The Mysterious Town of Echo Falls
by renaecantdance
Summary: Roxy has just moved school after her Dad died to a town named 'Echo Falls' where she meets a peculiar bunch of people, or so she thinks.
1. Chapter 1: The Move

I helped Mom unpack the last box. We were now officially moved in, not that I wanted to be. Mom wanted a new start since Dad died, I suppose it had to do with the fact that I started isolating myself from everyone, but now I have to complete my last few years of high school here.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" Mom asked.

As much as I love my Mom, she really does try to make conversation at the worst times. I was planning on going upstairs and moping, but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon.

"I guess, I just didn't see why we had to move," I told her.

"I know, but it's for the best," She assured me.

"Whatever," I replied.

There was a moment of silence.

"Also, who calls a town 'Echo Falls'?" I asked. "That has serial killer written all through it."

"From what I'm aware, they named it after a cave that echoed behind waterfall in the forest."

"That still doesn't mean it's not creepy."

"Go get your stuff ready for school tomorrow, it's almost time for bed."

I checked my watch, "But it's only like, nine-thirty."

She just gave me a look of 'don't argue with me' so I shuffled off into my room. I got my outfit ready for tomorrow, and put a few books in my bag. In no way was I okay to start over again. I walked out of the room to the kitchen, I was hungry. However, I forgot that we had no edible food in stock at the moment and I groaned a little inside. I went back into my bedroom and just decided to go to sleep. Sleeping was one of my favourite activities, but nowadays I just tossed and turned for hours before I could actually fall asleep.

...

My alarm buzzed. I groaned, smacking it and making it fall to the floor. Great, now I actually had to get up. I hauled myself out of bed, reluctantly letting go of my pillow and throwing my blankets aside. I got ready for school, and went downstairs for breakfast. A note sat alone on the dust covered benchtop, it read:

 _'Hey Sweetie,_

 _Work called me in early, but good luck on your first day!_

 _Mom xx'_

I sighed and shoved some more books in my bag and managed to fit my lunch in there. I put on my shoes and walked out onto the damp street, ready for my first day. Generally they're always a nightmare. Everything in this town just seemed gloomy and sad. It was a short walk to the school, not unlike back at home. I soon arrived at the school gates, it was a big and obviously old school. The thought of ditching crossed my mind, but I did want to have a life after school, so that was off. I walked into the school gates and found myself lost in the mounds of people. First days, weren't fun, especially in the middle of the school year. I took a look at my schedule and saw that I have English class first, at least that was one of my favourite subjects. I found the English classroom and walked inside. A teacher stood at the front preparing her lesson.

"Um, hello," I said shyly. "You are Ms. Hoffman, right?"

"Yes, dear," she said. "That's me. You must be Roxanne Bancroft."

"Yeah, that's me," I told her.

The school bell rang and students started to pile in. I sighed, this was the last place I wanted to be in. It was easy to weed out the cliques of the classroom. The nerds were near the front, the popular girls seemed to all be cheerleaders, and then the jocks next to the cheerleaders. In middle sat a few others.

"Good morning students," Ms. Hoffman said. "We have a new student today..."

Please don't say it, please don't say it.

"Her name is Roxanne Bancroft," she finished.

Well that's just fantastic.

"Stand up please, Roxanne," she ordered.

I obeyed and stood up.

"Um hi, I'm Roxanne," I said, even though it was redundant. "But, please call me Roxy."

"Why don't you tell us something about yourself?" Ms. Hoffman asked. "Like, where are you from?"

I swear she was trying to embarrass me.

"I just moved here, uh, my Mom wanted a fresh start after...after..." my voice trailed off.

"After what, dear?" Ms. Hoffman prodded.

"After my father died..." I said quietly.

"Oh," Ms. Hoffman said, I heard a few people whispering. "Well, please make her feel welcome."

Ugh. Now I'd just made a complete fool of myself. Ms. Hoffman went on to say something, but I didn't listen. I didn't really pay attention for the rest of the class, and thank goodness she didn't call on me. I wished that I was back home, with my friends and family. Well, just family I suppose, but even then that would just be my Mom. Soon enough, the school bell rang and class was finally over.

"Hey," a girl approached me. "You're Roxy, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," I said.

"Well, I'm Opal," she said. "Would you like a tour of the school?"

"Well yeah, getting around will be an issue if I don't," I replied.

"Okay, I'll give you one during recess," she said. "See you then."

"Yeah thanks," I told her.

The next class also passed with a blur. It was History and the teacher didn't even teach, he just sat around playing his ukulele. It was ridiculous, he didn't even speak to me the entire time. I'll never know how that guy got hired, then again, this is just a public school. Recess came and Opal showed me around, and invited me to sit with her at lunch. To which I agreed because what other option did I have? It's not like anyone else asked me to sit with them. I followed Opal to the cafeteria, where she lead me to a table. A boy already sat there reading.

"Okay, so this is Odin," she said.

He didn't even look up.

"He's my brother," she continued.

His face was completely expressionless.

"So I've gotta go and help out at the library," she said. "I'll be back soon."

Odin just sat there, motionless. She strutted off, leaving me stranded with Mr. I-Don't-Talk-Or-Move, seriously, how does one stay that still? He should really consider a career option as one of those people that pose as statues. After a while, a girl approached the table, I recognized her from my class in first period. She was tall with dark hair and skin. There was something about her that seemed... off. But, I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Hey, I'm Rani," she said.

"Yeah, I recognize you from my English class," I told her.

"Roxy, right?" she asked.  
"Well, I am the one that embarrassingly stood up in front of the class, right?" I told her.

She chuckled a little.

"Do you want to come sit with us?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied, I would do anything to get out of this situation with Odin.

She walked me over to her table where a girl and a boy both sat. She offered me a seat next to her and sat down.

"So, Matteo and Carisa, this is Roxy," she said.

"Hey," said the boy, whom I assume is Matteo.

"How you doing?" asked Carisa.

"I'm fine, thank you," I said politely, not knowing what else to say.

Something about all of them seemed off, but I still couldn't put my finger on it. As if they were hiding a secret or something, which seemed odd of me to say because I'd just met them.

"So you got stuck with Mr. Antisocial over there?" Matteo asked. "How'd that happen? He's a little uninviting I'm surprised you sat there."

"Opal invited me to sit with them," I told them. "Little did I know that she had library duty and would leave me with Odin."

Matteo chuckled, obviously finding my embarrassment amusing.

"Hey, you should come over this afternoon," Rani said, quickly changing the subject.

"That's a good idea," Carisa seconded her. "It would give us a chance to get to know you better."

"Um sure," I said, despite wanting to go home and sleep forever.

The bell ran before I could say anything else.

"Meet us at the front of the school, and we'll take you there," Rani told me.

"Okay," I told her, and walked off to my next class.

Two more classes left before home time, or in my case, hanging out with Matteo, Rani and Carisa, which will probably turn out to be interesting. The next few classes were so boring, so boring, they're not even mentionable. Once the bell rang, I got out of the classroom as soon as I could. I walked out to the front of the school, and Rani was already there waiting for me.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hi," I replied.

Matteo and Carisa walked over, and smiled.

"Are we ready to go?" Matteo asked.

"Sure," I replied.

The walk over was short but also felt a little awkward for me. Rani went on about some gossip involving her and some girl who had gotten into an argument about something presumably stupid. I stayed silent for most of the walk.

"So Roxy," Rani started. "I know that recent events have led to you being here, but what made your Mom decide to actually move, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My Dad died, it's okay you can say it," I told her.

"I just assumed it was still a fresh wound," she said.  
"It is, but it's not like not mentioning it will bring him back," I told her.

"It may cause unwanted emotions, that's all," she told me.

"Thanks for the consideration, but I'm okay," I said. "Well the thing is, I started to isolate myself from friends and my Mom herself right after he died, so she figured that I different house and scenery wouldn't bring back those emotions so much."

"Yeah, I was like that when my Mom died," Rani said. "So I moved and met Matteo in the process."

"Ha, that was a long time ago," Matteo added.

"It was ages ago," she added, smiling, as if there were a hidden meaning to her words.

"What about Carisa?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I became friends with her around a year ago," she said. "So not as long as Matteo."

We approached a huge Victorian looking mansion. The road circled in front of the house, it was so huge. There were even gardens and a little pavilion! I don't think I've ever seen a bigger or nicer house in real life.

"This is where you live?" I asked, not able to believe my eyes.

"Uh, yeah," Matteo said, a little awkwardly.

"It's huge!" I exclaimed. "Man, I'm jealous."

We walked up the front steps, Matteo pulled out a key and opened the door.

"Come on in," he said.

When I walked inside, I could not believe my eyes. The mansion was decorated like an old Victorian home. The hallway was the main thing seen, decorated with a long red hall runner carpet with a few small tables decorated with flowers in fancy vases. The hallway had at least six dark wood doors, alternating left and right. At the end of the hall was a staircase, also dark wood, leading to an upstairs part of the house.

"Shall we go upstairs?" Matteo asked.

"Sure," I replied.

We walked along the hallway and trudged up the stairs. The room was open, like a fancy hang out space. In the middle there was a sofa with a T.V. in front of it. There were a few more single seated sofas in a circle around a coffee table in a different corner of the room. There were four doors around it, Matteo opened one of these doors and welcomed us all in.

"So this is your room?" I asked Matteo, the room was huge.

He nodded. There was a giant king size bed against the wall, across from the foot of the bed was a wardrobe. Next to the wardrobe was a desk, covered in paper, books and what appeared to be photos. To the left of the bed was a bookshelf stocked full with the classics of literature. I sat down on the bed, gosh, I'd kill for a bed this comfy.

"So how long have you lived here?" I asked.

"Uh... a while," replied Matteo.

"Oh... um, cool," I told him, why is he being so vague?

A few moments of awkward silence followed, I had no idea what to say next.

"Uh, who wants food?" Rani asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm starving," Matteo piped up.

"Me too," Carisa added.

They all looked at me.

"What about you Roxy?" asked Rani.

"Oh, um, I'm not that hungry," I said, awkwardly. "I kinda need to go to the bathroom, where would that be?"

"It's right in that door there," Matteo said, pointing to a door to the left of the bed.

"Thanks," I said.

I got up off the bed and started to head towards the bathroom.

"Hey, we'll go get food and bring it back up while you're in there," said Matteo.

"Okay, cool," I replied.

They all headed out of the room and down to the kitchen, this place was so big you would probably need a map to find everything. I headed into the bathroom and admired the gorgeousness of it. It huge, to begin with, much like everything else in this house. Instead of a shower, lay a bath with what looked to be jets inside of it. Geez, the things I would do for a house like this. I think Matteo would die of shock if he saw my house, it's probably the size of his living room! I did my business and headed out of the bathroom. Curiosity called me over to his desk, to see some of the photos of him. There were some cute ones of him, Rani and Carisa all pulling faces. There were also some ones of him, Rani and some strange man. Though the photos were nice, they didn't stand out as much as a small black and white one, poking out under some papers. Curiosity called again and I pulled out the photo, and looked at it. Once properly looking at it, I couldn't believe my eyes. A picture of Matteo, Rani and that strange man, dated in the nineteen-twenties. What are these people? Maybe this is just a filter... no, no, no, it couldn't be it was too faded and old looking for that. I had to get out of here. I ran towards the door, and opened it. Matteo appeared in front of me, startling me and making me jump, Rani and Carisa stood behind him.

"You look like you just saw a ghost!" he exclaimed.

I couldn't help thinking, maybe I'm looking at one right now.

"Uh... sorry, um, my Mom called and I have to go home," I said, very unconvincingly.

"Oh, that sucks," he said. "Want me to drive you home?"

"No, I should be good," I told him.

"You'll be sitting with us at lunch tomorrow?" Rani asked.

"Uh yeah, sure," I said, "I'll see you tomorrow"

I attempted to casually power walk out of the room, but let's face it, no power walk looks casual.

"Bye Roxy!" Rani called out behind me.  
"Yeah, bye!" Carisa called.

"Um, bye," I managed to squeak.

Once I was out of the house, I ran as fast as I could home. What are they? Are they even human? I reached home within five minutes, geez I must've been running faster than I thought! Mom wasn't home from work yet so I just headed up to my room. I've officially gone insane. What was I thinking? This is all probably just a big misunderstanding, with a really good camera filter. Yes, that would've have to have been it. There's no other reasonable explanation otherwise, it's not like supernatural creatures could exist. At least, I hope not. I must be really out of it to even believe all of this stuff, I should just go to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: The Supernatural

The rest of the week passed like a blur, but a really slow blur. Like when the days pass slowly and then suddenly it's the weekend; that sort of thing. I told Rani, Matteo and Carisa that I'd hang out with them on the weekend. Matteo invited me to his mansion again, and so now I was on my way along these strangely creepy and isolated streets to their house. I knocked on the giant house at around two o'clock. That's when he said to come over.

"Hello," said a man, and he creepily smiled.

It was the man from those photographs that I saw a few days ago. He stared for a moment, sizing me up.

"Can I help you?" he asked, kind of impatiently.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, Matteo and Rani told me to come," I told him.

"Ah yes, come right in," he told me, still smiling creepily.

He made me feel a little uneasy.

"Rani! Matteo! There's a guest here to see you!" called the stranger.

Silence followed.

"I suppose they're not here," he said after a few moments, and smirked.

"Perhaps I'll just go—" I started, something about this man did not seem right.

"No, no, they'll be home soon enough," he said. "I'll show you to the lounge room."

"Um, okay," I replied.

I followed him into a dark kind of room, not very lounge room-esque. It was dark and dank, and smelled kind of metallic and well... weird, I couldn't explain it.

"Don't scream," he looked at me right in the eye, backing me into a corner.

"What?" I said.

His face became... weird, to say the least. Veins crawled all underneath his eyes, and his teeth, his canines, sharpened to a point. He plunged them into my neck, pain shot through my body. I let out an ear piercingly high scream.

"Ow! My ears!" he exclaimed, covering his ears. "Wait a second, I just compelled you to not scream. Why are you screaming?"

I pushed him aside and ran out of the room, he appeared right in front of me. I screamed again.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, covering his ears. "Really again?"

"What are you?!" I managed to shout at him.

I heard footsteps rushing down the hallway. Rani and Matteo appeared in front of us.

"Roxy! Are you okay?" called Rani.

"What's going on here?!" Matteo yelled at the stranger.

"Ah brother, nice of you to join the party," he said. "I was just feeding off the food you provided. Although, she's a little bitter for my liking."

"She's not food!" Matteo exclaimed.

"She's our friend," Rani explained.

"You sound like those sharks in Finding Nemo," Matteo's brother mocked them. "Humans are friends, not food!"

He chuckled to himself, apparently finding himself humorous.

"Well—" Rani started.

"Guys, I'm feeling kind of... feint," is all I could manage to say, clenching my hand to my neck.

I started to fall down but Rani rushed over and held me up.

"Antonio, because this is your doing, please feed her your blood," she ordered him.

"If you send food to the house, I'm inclined to eat it," he said, bit into his wrist and held it up to my mouth.

"His blood will heal you," Matteo added.

I drank the blood, and the dizziness faded. I felt around my neck. No puncture wounds, just blood. I shoved Rani off of me and stepped back a metre.

"What are you all?!" I asked, trying to be brave.

"We're creatures of the night," Matteo said quietly, as if he was ashamed of whatever it is he was.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Um we're—" he started again.

"We're vampires, sweetie," Antonio told me, in a sassy tone. "Blood sucking, night walking, immortal beings with bad table manners."

"What?" I managed to say. "That... that can't be possible."

"Also, why couldn't I compel her?" Antonio asked, completely ignoring my commentary.

"Her necklace," Rani replied.

"Ah, okay," Antonio replied.

"What are you all talking about?" I screamed.

"Should we compel her to forget?" Matteo asked.

"No, she'll find out again sooner or later," Rani said. "We might as well let her know now."

"What are you all talking about?!" I exclaimed.

"It's okay," said Rani. "We're not going to hurt you, Antonio is just a little wild at times."

Rani shot a look at Antonio.

"I told you, if you set food at the front door I'll eat it," he repeated. "It's like pizza delivery."

"The point is, we're vampires," she said, calmly. "We've been around for a long time."

"Where are you all from?" I asked backing away slowly.

"Antonio and I are from Italy, during the industrial revolution period," said Matteo.

"I'm from India," said Rani. "During the Golden Age or the Gupta Period. I'm a lot older than Matteo and Antonio."

"Can we please stop calling me Antonio? It's Tony, I'm trying to seem more American here," he said.

"But it strips you of your individuality," I told him.

"Can we focus?" asked Rani. "Vampires also have special powers."

"We can compel, vamp run, have super strength, super hearing, heal instantly, heal others instantly with their blood and live for like ever," Tony said.

I took a moment to take it all in, kind of intense.

"I'll go now," I said. "I'll be back soon, I just have to do something."

I started to walk off.

"Hey, Roxy," called Tony. "Look, I'm sorry for attacking you. And also, are you going to keep our secret?"

"Yeah... I'll keep it," I told them. "I'll see you soon."

I walked out of the house and then started sprinting back home. I needed to know how to protect myself against them, the vampires. As soon as I got home, I researched what vampires are vulnerable to. The top answers were; garlic, a religious symbol and if you sprinkle seeds on the ground, they must pick them up and count them. Perhaps that's the name where Count Dracula came from. I rushed out to the local supermarket and picked up a lot of garlic, some garlic bread and some bird seeds. I went back to my house and cooked the garlic bread, they won't know what hit them. I walked back to their house with all the stuff I had bought, plus an old crucifix that I found around our house, I'm not Christian however I'm pretty sure my grandma was. I shoved everything into a bag and ran back over to their house. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to open. Instead, I heard Rani call out that it was open. I walked inside and set down the garlic bread. I went into the lounge room and sprinkled the bird seed on the carpet. Then I put some garlic on the door frame, and set the garlic bread on the coffee table and took a piece.

"Hey Roxy," Rani said and walked in, not noticing the garlic and the bird seed on the floor. "what's that smell?"

"What's what smell?" I tried to reply innocently.

Tony walked in and eyed the pan of garlic bread, also not noticing the seed on the ground and the garlic on the door frame.

"Oh yummy!" he exclaimed. "Don't mind if I do."

He took a piece and shoved it in his mouth. Much to my shock, nothing happened.

"This is good! Not authentic, but still good!" he exclaimed. "Who made this?"

Matteo then walked in.

"Why is there garlic in the doorway?" he asked, and continued walking.

"Why are there seeds on the carpet?" he asked. "Tony, what did you do now?"

"Why are you asking me?" he asked, his mouth filled with garlic bread.

"Why are there seeds on our two hundred year old carpet?" he asked.

"Why don't you have the urge to pick up and count them all?" I blurted out.

"What on earth are you babbling about?" asked Tony, his mouth still filled with food.

"Is that not a thing? You know like do you not have an urge to pick them up?" I asked.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"Because _Count_ Dracula," I said, nervously.

"So you were the one that spread them everywhere?" questioned Matteo.

"Uh, maybe," I said.

He raised his eyebrow.

"Okay fine," I said. "I researched what vampires are vulnerable to and it came up with that."

"And you honestly thought that we'd pick up bird seed and count it?" Tony asked.

"I don't know what to believe anymore!" I exclaimed.

"Is that why you put the garlic in the doorway?" Tony further questioned.

I nodded, reluctantly.

"Roxy, we are Italian, what the heck do you think we eat?" asked Tony, eating more garlic bread.

"You're all vampires! Is that not insane?! I just want to know how to protect myself in case I ever get attacked again," I said.

I shot a glare at Tony, who just continued to stuff himself with garlic bread.

"Okay, clearly this is all a misunderstanding," Rani finally said. "Roxy, I'll teach you some stuff, okay? Antonio, clean up the bird seed and the garlic please."

"Why must I clean it up?" he whined, mouth filled with garlic bread.

Rani shot him a look of 'argue with me and you die' so he walked out of the room presumably to get something to clean it up.

"Come on, Roxy, I'll take you into my bedroom and you can ask me anything you wish to know about the supernatural world," said Rani.

I followed Rani into a room upstairs, it was cute and retro themed room. It seemed to match her personality and style. She sat down on the bed and gestured for me to join.

"Ask away," she told me as I sat down.

"What are you vulnerable to?" I asked.

"Vervain, which is a certain herb," she started. "Sunlight, unless you have a daylight ring like I do, wood hurts more than any other weapon and can kill us if it hits the heart, if our heart gets ripped out, if our head gets chopped off... that's all I can think of."

"Where can I get vervain?" I asked.

"I have some if you want it," she said. "I put it in that necklace you're wearing so you couldn't be compelled by anyone."

"Who else in the town knows about you guys?" I questioned. "Does Carisa know?"

"She knows about us and the supernatural world, yes," she said. "The police department know about vampires, but the Sheriff's best friends with Antonio, so that's not saying much."

"What other creatures are out there?" I asked.

"There are werewolves, which there's a pack out in the forest of this place and we're enemies with them," she started. "There are witches and warlocks. Actually, you know that girl Opal?"

I nodded.

"Her grandmother's a really powerful witch and Opal's taking after her," she explained.

"What about Odin?" I asked.

"He's extremely powerful, but he absolutely hates the supernatural world," she said. "He hates himself for what he is as well."

"Any other creatures around here specifically?" I asked.

"There is a bad vampire gang in the town," she says. "They're worse enemies with the wolves than we are, there's a full on war between them and there have been instances in which we've been partially involved but not ever fully involved."

"Other creatures in general?" I asked.

"Vampire hunters," she said. "It's self-explanatory what they do, but they are enhanced to kill us. And mermaids and fairies too, not any that I know of within America. Other than that, that's it."

"Are mermaids specially advanced in any way other than the tail?" I asked.

"Yeah, depending on the mermaid they can manipulate water. Like freeze it, boil it, control it in general," she explained. "Also, mermaids are quite tasty to vampires. Tastier than humans, actually."

"What's the difference between fairies and witches?" I asked.

"Well, witches are a very regional thing on the powers they possess, whereas fairies magic is pretty constant," Rani explained. "Fairies only have white magic which is healing spells, protection spells and peace spells. As well as the fact that fairies have less power than witches and are far less common."

I nodded, to take everything in again.

"You look scared," she said.

"It's just intense," I replied. "It's a bit overwhelming, intimidating if you will."

"I can understand," she replied. "I was freaked out the day that I turned and found out about it."

"You can remember?" I asked. "Wasn't that six hundred years ago? Does your memory not fade?"

"Another perk of being a vampire, we don't have to forget anything we don't want to," she told me.

I sat silent for another moment.

"Do you want me to walk you home now?" she asked.

It's like she could read right through me sometimes.

"Yeah, thanks," I told her.

"C'mon, let's go," she said.

I got up off the bed and walked out and down the stairs to the hallway. Rani quickly shoved on her regular boots and I followed her outside.

"Wait, so all those reports of animal attacks lately are vampires?" I asked Rani.

"Yeah, unfortunately," Rani said.

"Are any of those from Tony?" I asked.

"No, we all drink from blood bags from the hospital," Rani said.

"So this town is infested with vampires?" I asked.

"Not just vampires, there's werewolves and witches too like I said earlier," she told me. "The big vampire group is the Strychnos which has around fourteen members, including the leader Hugo."

"What about the werewolf group?" I asked.

"That's the Shadow Wolves Pack," she explained. "There's a lot of them because there are several families within the pack, there's like thirty to forty of them."

"And the sheriff knows about all of this?" I asked, confused. "Yet she doesn't put a stop to it?"

"As far as I'm aware, her and the Strychnos have an agreement that those who trespass into their territory is fair game, however if they go outside these boundaries of killing people, like they have been lately, then they will be punished or killed," she explained. "Though, I think that Hugo has started to threaten to kill off members of the police so they're in a bit of a problem."

"And you can't do anything?" I asked.

"Unfortunately not, we can't let the sheriff know that we're vampires," she told me. "As well as the fact if we want to keep them allies we can't mess with them."

"Wait a second, who's older you or Tony?" I asked.

She laughed.

"Me by a very long shot," she said. "I'm three-hundred and sixty-seven now and Tony is two-hundred and twenty."

"Also, is your age determined by your actual birthday or the date that you were turned?" I asked.

"Birthday," she said. "Well, that's how I do it anyway."

"This is my house here," I told her, pointing to my house.

"Alright, I'll head home now," she said.

"Do you want to come in?" I asked, politely.

"No thanks, I should get back," she said. "Hopefully, Tony isn't terrorizing innocent people."

"Okay, see you later," she said.

"Bye!" she exclaimed and vamped out.

These next few weeks will prove to be very interesting, to say the least.


	3. Chapter 3: The Pact

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5f22e0199d1d3e48969eb29ce6e4c547"School finally finished in favor of the holidays, and can I just say thank goodness! All this supernatural world business was making it hard to concentrate on school life. The holidays so far had just been me hanging out at Matteo and Rani's place because my Mom was busy working./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ce7f79a40ae27efc1cda7b477af301a8""What's for lunch?" asked Tony. "I'm hungry."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7b0745a6856b751cc9376dc59c3e1bc4""I thought vampires don't eat?" I asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ee773a1ff01e0ec9eb86bc971a37cbf1""We can easily live without food, but I prefer to eat it anyway," he told me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5edf03226db84c12c4f4c57a69cfb49c""Relax, I called for a pizza delivery," said Rani./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e2041b0726924fb5122019377eb1a6a3""What pizza did you get?" he asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a5caf425aefd810de327d00056df367b""Meat lovers," she told him. "Your favourite."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e4230f49ef3645243185492da1ac5d0d""Sweet," he replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e41c42ad1132fd32451c15c05edc5077"The doorbell rang, echoing through the house./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6334262dbf49d7b1fdc41f1bb41626f5""Pizza!" Antonio exclaimed and Rani vamped over to the door./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a9af6ff2b3698eb9235593950c3ee13e"Antonio followed after her and I heard the door open. I peeked out the living room doorway to get a view of what was going on, a mysterious guy in tattered, grimy clothing stood in the doorway./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c56cd82aaddf95e292d20f29fcb5b40b""You're not pizza," scowled Antonio, joining Rani at the doorway./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4a2dcd40e0a2b3ff2318cb6155f559aa""I came to talk," said a strange voice. "We have a situation."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4780c43fe12deb8a98906c769b482c57""We?" asked Tony, in a sassy tone./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="17e5888c8d5389cc296ce399ad04523a""What's the situation?" asked Rani, getting to the point./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="053e60c863796717e15f74d15ee3aafc""Can I come in?" the man asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="179093e1c56bc325f86f9cbbebde8ff9""No feeding on the humans in here, okay?" Rani asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="eef25d9749b2e1e57d0510a762eba764""You house humans now?" the man asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f847fcdb921992fcff2194fe11eef097""There's Carisa and a new girl, Roxy," Rani explained./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6988543e76bc32f4811a601631d87179""Whatever," he said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="520ad2cd540cefbe7ead580d36d4d8e1""Do you agree to not eat them?" Rani asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="26b1cf37a7839242cd987ba6a8702211""Fine, whatever," he said. "But we need your help."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="25475d309376bb5dc7b6a57f4b92506a"Rani backed out of the doorway to let the stranger in, Tony stood his ground right in front of the stranger until Rani pulled him out of the way. The man followed them down the hallway, whilst I quickly dashed to the couch to make it look like I wasn't spying on them. They walked into the living room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d9ab01ed2aa3f769c6d39ed0382aa91a""No pizza?" I asked, attempting to be casual./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f619067a0b5da79a1b039eaaa1302372""Couldn't you hear us talking?" asked Tony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b29c50e33386961fb8a269d95371debc""I'm not a vampire, I don't have super hearing," I told him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e4da851d32bfd21e431bafc456bb721e""Ah right," Tony agreed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="06163e871903d5234489f6c52ace671c""Who's this?" I asked, gesturing to the stranger./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5d67a022efd9571b8cc5640ba3f771c1""Remember the vampire gang I told you about?" Rani asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e6f26912dd23ccf19eb0fcc203e2ac5d""The Strychnos, right?" I replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="64dd48716cdd354615f7d506d6fb1b64""Yeah, well this the leader, Hugo," she told me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="111fa0d38c3d9bd02799c3c2363f7737""Okay," I replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="449250a93283e203c3c0a57c2a9cc174""Like I was saying," Hugo started, completely ignoring me. "We have a situation."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2be910d4573ec1fd2ca72ce2a2565486""So what's the situation?" Tony asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b1b1f8e12e22119dd1d9dce2d71292be""The Shadow pack, well more specifically their leader Carlos, has declared war on us," he said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="30a3f483baf476b8c3877e02d16c36c7""And what do you want us to do about it?" Tony asked, sassily./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="41d8d47f8161eb65ffb058953dd18250""I want to make allies with you guys," he said. "If we get attacked, you come to defend us."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b310844d58450aecd4a416acfffe0913""What do we have that's so good?" questioned Tony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5636eb66b4438769191c1a8b7225baa4""Rani is the oldest vampire in this town, and has some serious power," he started. "Also, you and Matteo have good power too. And you have connections with witches and other supernatural creatures."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1369fa0d0ca1a7a96f79225c295a2e60""Fair enough," Tony agreed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="63fd9dd15a6a2d7952289e857f4e92ce""We'll think about it," Rani said. "What do you have to offer us?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4c887e9ef44cb6ca62141fe195058eb6""Protection," he said. "You have humans in your gang, we can promise to protect them from vampires and wolves too."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="572e83b1a6e5900ba6cc3c4e88b55995""Anything else?" Tony asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c798e1de98edb5e1067c2b77b3d12526""We can, not rat your true identities out to the P.D," he said, in a threatening type of tone./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bd2ded2e6e81918730ae40c5b7d80d48""Blackmail?" asked Rani, in a 'are you serious' tone./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fb78d3fef077724e8915e2dad51cbc07""Call it what you want to," he said. "Are you in or not?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="862f46b4a56370b27352e5a0c58d4482""We're in," Tony agreed before Rani could say anything./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="27cc7b8a7c6de2c93ae705a06a57a1e2""Good," Hugo replied. "Meet me at the warehouse later."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c6d02da4c5d61f2516e3610fbd6250d9""What time?" asked Rani./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="48822f30df2c39559738c8805e20150f""In about an hour," he replied. "See you soon."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="34da395c8a2429eeb8157e430e0f14a4"He vamped out of the house./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="08d20a05aeedad89c92a4764f77302a5""Geez, that was intense," I said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="523ad2edecce8a7f84dae4563ab43e20""You're telling me," Tony replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="55514730d56a8e2be5ecd7f72fac485b""That's Hugo for you," Rani told me. "He will do anything to win against the wolves."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a1140a3826195b8bec70b50a1e8ec9a1"The doorbell rang again./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2880d97414fd05c4189f1a86b6215985""Please tell me that's the pizza," said Tony and he vamped over to the door again./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8d8377070c8d07de11700533b4c92897"I walked out to the hallway to see if it was in fact the pizza. Tony opened the door and Carisa stood in the doorway./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="770d4149bcbbd667012447c6fb7c6345""You're not pizza," said Tony, clearly disappointed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4248e6cc276e86851e027a41978bc528""I just saw Hugo walk off with a box of pizza," Carisa told him, walking down the hall./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a3689a41f3e432d309f259f508a2deb9""That fool," said Tony, following her. "He's lucky I'm not going to retract our deal."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1f0339f27eb6f011fa6e351bdbcca1c9"I sat back down on the couch, as they both walked in the room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="149f748abeae108df3919800a1b2bb67""That's what I was meaning to ask you guys," Carisa started. "What was Hugo doing here?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ae08bc93c8e26caa66710ddf20affc40""Hugo was here?" asked Matteo, as he walked into the room. "Why was he here?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="daa81446bdb0741edca5bd524b309bc9""Wow, someone clearly doesn't like Hugo," I laughed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c8e0028ee6161fb22d0ba9225c3d7492""He's never really liked Hugo," Tony chuckled. "No clue as to why."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="191346b3621f0ed5e7c279621d49ac50""He was here to offer a deal of allegiance between us and the Strychnos," Rani told Matteo and Carisa./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ac676fadfe760f3141ebe10a59b558ca""Did you take it?" asked Matteo./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2686ca198928343dc5293cfca7424a1a""Yeah, we did," Tony told him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="39f02054e519fa5fe7f8f07ed0f3b8c2""Why would you do that?" asked Matteo, clearly mad./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2c49ee1d3e771315f8303c39378b3a43""Because the wolves just declared war on the Strychnos and they want our help if they need it," Tony said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d3a7b0c2048a8bbe43c247c25b4fa558""We're meeting them in an hour to presumably discuss details of the allegiance," I added./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d9574e289eb7d808d0938890a74a12f8""We're?" Tony eyed me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="18ca8fe1a3a0c019b1ed0a53789ca4b2""I might as well go, if I'm to be included in this supernatural business," I said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6daf9397a562f550d462b678192f7867"He gave me a judge-y look./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3c7bad8be81f442d376de9f920a1c4ea""Well, if I'm to be protected by them they should at least know who I am," I told him. "And I should know who they are."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="30ac7c9ef8c091d999d5e97d53f0bbce""She has a good point," Rani agreed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="88fd07d8c9dffea874aee66a577e7c3f""Alright, whatever," Tony agreed, rolling his eyes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7cd4b5848e54a880a33319b834b3236d""This is a bad idea," Matteo said. "Hugo is trouble."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2d90ab72ec3a8c526de5617b491be8ae""We don't have any other options," Rani said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="670420e733f2d830552caa10b8c5e28f""What is your deal with Hugo?" asked Tony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="16651590c92ac499482c5aa1bf12421c""He's bad news, okay?" Matteo said, annoyed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0dabd523f2aac5f0c1f726146495b2d0""Alright, alright," Tony said. "Chill out."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a6678343632a2b0a7b13596f2a213db0""Look, just come to the warehouse later and see if you agree with the deal," Rani said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="48587f5017a2ac51f93b0d93a82ee1f3""I'm just saying, how can we completely trust them?" Matteo said. "What did they do for the wolves to declare war?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f45c94a7bbb6b1159b42eef65dd0ca55""Why do you suddenly care what they did to the wolves?" asked Tony. "We also have a strong rivalry with the wolves, in case you've forgotten."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5eb4d009e9433c53779faad8da57d933""I just think that maybe we should stop getting involved in chaos with other supernatural groups," Matteo told him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b8aeb27db14d735f62c393dfe412eb13"Tony stayed silent and Matteo stormed out of the room, clearly annoyed at him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d1b285d3bfcd49030dd4dba1bdd660ed""I'm hungry, can we order another pizza?" asked Tony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="39552f6d76217685aca2066c14d5b166""There are some blood bags in the fridge," Rani offered./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c37b77bbc16a57c992431aa99ef968cc""That'll do," he said, getting up and leaving the room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d78b1a275c64b4ccca2d5d53e9b0ff0e""What time is it now?" I asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b3f76c978256f15120edf488b61b5b07""Six thirty, half an hour until we meet them," Rani told me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="72d5891a0268e452a35b878c8cf18a7f""Okay," I replied. "Should I bring a weapon?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0e11826313531c97084d161714a94506""Yeah, just carry a wooden stake with you," Tony said sarcastically, re-entering the room with a glass full of what was obviously blood./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a87bf246f36979e1bde4bf724c6858dc""Oh shut up," I told him. "I'm not that stupid."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="cdd8cab29cf46eb1eb71d345f5f99b79""You are stupid to tell a vampire to shut up," he glared at me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="95bbd4a432381241f00e0761678947a0""If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead already," I said, standing up./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="07258540a26f95b62478bca018aa0346""True," he replied, looking at me dead in the eye./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="30e5eb4a99995bcc35ef4ef5c82f479f""But I'm not," I replied, returning the stare./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e6f8070a8c7951b6b937a1980460c9e7""Yet," he lunged forward at me, though I still held my stance./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ee53d52b7cc1f57de67ae8d976dc5341""I always carry a switch blade with me," Carisa told me, ignoring the feud between Tony and I. "But maybe you don't want to carry something so big or obvious."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c59fda08c1f74c9cb4b94e935dad4556""With the amount of supernatural creatures that are in this town, I really don't blame you for carrying that around," I told her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="03692ee01359bd0a18d2fe5e5cf4353b""You realise that you can't do that much damage to a vampire with a knife?" Tony asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e67fadb30cebeb6b3e6f38580a9f0556""It's not about killing them," I told him. "It's about being able to get out of a situation without being killed myself."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0c3071ff83c07c1fed434401f55803ea"The room stayed silent for a few moments./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e904d175cf3544bd0535242d81babea5""I'm gonna go get some water," I said, and left the room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="50b4da0b50a686df1f45454c6a1ee708"I walked down the hallway, walking to the door that I was pretty sure led to the kitchen./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="43b82f91614317bb8f2c50c1ace8b725""Relax," said a voice in the room. "I can fix this, you have to trust me."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2808a4962bee55c7f9090846af36c1f2"I'm pretty sure that voice was Matteo, I pressed my ear to the door. Sneaky, I know, but curiosity was taking me over./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8713eba461f17ffab9235738b3b198cf""Carlos, listen to me, I can fix this..."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bf65a48185120434bf5883f220754485"Who is Carlos? I swear I've heard that name before... the werewolf leader. The werewolf leader! That's who he is! Why would Matteo be talking to him then?/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0c110caff2208c8c91d9a1495b71b13e""... Just trust me, you said you loved me didn't you?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c78e78851f0579a8213bedc82d131ba5"Well that took an unexpected turn/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="543e6c76440ede7b3f2d3d4087b3cb7c""We meet them at their warehouse tonight, you could sabotage them, shout the real reason why you declared war on them! Kill them if you have to!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1f7b6c50509fdbfbfeaf9f930f67badd"I burst open the door, I didn't mean to, I just didn't want to get people or creatures killed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="87a317f556cbd112c430bb8f430fd994""You can't do that!" I shouted at Matteo./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c26bfffb6b48487dae93a4de519b4324""Roxy?!" Matteo said, startled./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="911607139cd9ecf80fcc0f617b76d5ca"I stood there, immediately regretting bursting open that door./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ad4476fac2ad6ccd5f0e3cf048cdf5a2""I'll call you back, Carlos," Matteo said into the phone, glaring at me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="93a2465efcc52522125e24687125a112""You're dating the leader of the werewolves?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="800b75a0777ac87db48e3f5f7d04cda2""Okay, so I'm gay—" he started./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="801739e9822a8cad0c90220ec3a01546""That isn't my main concern," I cut him off. "My main concern is that you're presumably in love with someone who leads a group of people that we're about to be enemies with. Talk about star-crossed lovers, this is insane!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a68c19f0236179635da359704d17c59e""I have it under control," he assured me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e8951e05e6f931f6708b8489de0f6255""Just promise me that your feelings for him doesn't cloud your better judgement," I told him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1ae3747cce6f5650e8ec343a4b015f85""Okay, okay, I promise I won't," he promised./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6b7bfa3bf1cfd3b819ed625127e7cf9d""Good," I replied. "Also, where's the kitchen?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="99b1efe6f32c85bdbc26decea9660934""The room over to the left," he answered./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="91d260eca520b7807f39a6a5409bf34b""Right, thank you," I replied, leaving the room. "Don't make any stupid mistakes."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5681cbe65fdaf7f85df5ff63bef6b08a""Oh, and Roxy?" he called./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a8c037e649043dee00ce74ff4b96612f""Yeah?" I replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="699cc2c67b67f2cb183793e317634bc5""Can you not tell anyone that I'm gay?" he asked. "Especially not Tony."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5c6607779adafd65bfacb1ba1a36b44f""Why not?" I asked. "Is he homophobic?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="81605e66411da6d5b1b1234b12d38e2d""I don't think so," he replied. "Pretty sure Rani is bisexual and he's clearly in love with her."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b3c00227e83daed5de8d1bffac1d18c9""Wait what? He's in love with her?" I asked, I had so much to learn./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="70639319659fe91a3110166a48ce0228""Anyway, just don't tell anyone," he told me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dcf63b678a6a8022dd61e0de5de56f8f""I won't, I promise," I told him and headed to the kitchen./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="041b862a9431702f365c7b9cd7b757b2"It's funny how quickly my life got so complicated. A few months ago, I was a happy person who had a father and lived in California. Now, I'm a far less happy person without a father, stuck in a world infested with supernatural creatures, now living in Oregon. I walked into the kitchen, and scouted the giant room for a cup. Just as I was about to take a sip, Rani came into the room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="535b211540539f46e39b804493ac90d7""Hey, we're leaving in like two minutes," she told me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="51447562d44dd0f98a02aaeb7d91821d""Okay, let's go," I said, after gulping down the water, and then followed her out of the room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6e009c368588b6284d4cb12aef750e03"Carisa and Matteo stood at the doorway, and Rani and I joined them./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f9dbad0140a8266fcba7ac717a00873a""Antonio! Hurry, we're leaving now," Rani called./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="dd10a52e424dcd86a57d298f072e1379"Antonio vamped in front of us, making me jump. He chuckled./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="76008a20b167eb092a152410252e8c7e""That's not funny," I told him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2c627394e2c3913aae2236005be46a03""It's a little funny," he replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8fb52dd5e83e0e9fc76c7f1396a3f9d3""Let's just go," Rani said, walking out the door./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f888482e66a35aee550cb54ed7a6d2f1"The rest of us followed her outside./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="38f5199559f0600846b443cfb45e4701""So where is this warehouse place?" I asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="20f470c592dfa041d0040a20c58af7f6""It's on the outskirts of town," Matteo replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ff3469be0984fd81d4ffe8e130caa052""And we're walking there?" I asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="54bf363be9cb16f37c12f342bfafeb74""I have a better idea," he said, and raised an eyebrow at Rani and Matteo./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0a3bc571e5defb9664de33724f24ccfd"Rani wrapped an arm around me, and Matteo wrapped an arm around Carisa, who looked just as confused as I did. Then everything blurred, and we were suddenly standing right outside a warehouse./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d3612c36a8bf77f381c6ba5b7f22b7b2""What the bloody hell was that?!" I exclaimed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c27163bf435ff10356becc4bcd16378a""That, Roxy, was vamp running," Tony told me, with a certain snark. "Also known as vamping."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3d29b6a057e1437f626cb5b8400a8f72"He started to strut through the doorway, like he owned the place./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fbfa50f47db5f66ec0ec9a2ccff68503""We're here!" called Tony. "Present to us your best arguments for our allegiance."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d9a3ef7036f7cb0dae4ae096ab5a464e""Antonio, enough with the sass," Rani said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="498e403a0c1fafbcce172e8f2479988e""Yes, mother," he rolled his eyes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bf7dd31933a6b22382b4e93f8d43235d""Screw you, Antonio!" she rolled her eyes this time, walking in front of him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e92e31be53225ae54624234e233ddfd7""You know you want to," he said, somewhat seductively, raising his eyebrows and winking at her. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="670cfebd2b6a207204d9b9f9554deb99"He mustn't have been that seductive, otherwise Rani would not have shoved him. I chuckled in amusement of their argument, knowing that both Matteo and Carisa would find it amusing as well. Hugo vamped in front of us./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3c519ea59167b1f9570cd3f8b93fd965""Good, you're here," he said. "Welcome to the warehouse, make yourselves at home."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="211b96fb8c3f98d26dcb4667395d254b""You call this a home?!" Carisa asked in disgust. "It's gross."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="72c353d8448d6b9b1907febd25930c6e""Feisty, this one is," Hugo muttered to Tony./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b62064544c2f43ba93df8ff8a0cfa873""You have no idea," Tony replied, rolling his eyes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="325661cfe2f5feb2a336ca338acff520"Hugo led us through a corridor to a table in the middle of the room. There were about ten vampires the room, I could feel their eyes on me, sizing me up as a human blood bag. The warehouse was like a giant version of the room that Tony tried to eat me in, but much less decorated and fancy. It smelled like what I'd imagine blood to smell like, and was dirty and gross./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1da322cbac65a6c7ac751cda43071a2f""Take a seat," Hugo said, gesturing to the worn down table set./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="304b4fba28db7ed2a6e0283347a49ef8"We all took a seat, including the other vampires surrounding us. I made sure to wedge myself between Matteo and Rani, so that I wouldn't be stuck next to some strange vampire./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e2b8ca2c1769ac1b68c47ce8507f8eed""The terms of the allegiance are simple," Hugo started. "We protect you and you protect us if the wolves ever attack."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="26ad96e02eb07b15671471a6e7f69471"There was an awkward moment of silence, no, it was more of a tense moment of silence. Hugo stood up and walked a few steps forward, subtly looking around as if someone were about to enter./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9764a79f8366f2920e20eb65e8bb1f45""Like right now," he said, leaving the rest of us wondering what the hell he was talking about. "You can come out of hiding now, Carlos."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="1086dbe3e21c1b021d16881d55f29247"I glared at Matteo, he said he was going to dissuade Carlos out of coming. Rani and Tony both stood up, and stood each side of Hugo. Carlos came out from the wall he was hiding behind./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8ce629c48456d0035561a1278383d26c""I thought you promised that he wouldn't come," I muttered to Matteo underneath my breath./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9d23aabeff5ea8e0ad65c3da49ed24fd""I thought that he wouldn't, he promised he wouldn't," he muttered back, and got up and stood behind Hugo./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0b1e9aa5a4e72b7106bf9941bfa25013""You can't side with them," Carlos told Rani. "You know why we declared war on them?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="672eee8815d5437043d51fe43170c428"We all stood just looking at him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6bc007fdeaaa2c7fdfb5163ba66bea26""He killed some of our own," Carlos started. "An entire family. We deserve revenge, this isn't fair to the children and parents that were killed for his entertainment."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="519a8d237fc1f24d6cbdb7825d15f0cf""Why would you do that?" Rani asked Hugo./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d5746e50025c15db366ed1f5bdf15b18""Attack!" Carlos screamed at the top of his lungs, before Hugo could say otherwise./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="521bcd5504bd4ad9e4735aa702382840"All of a sudden, a bunch of people ran out with weapons in hand, screaming and chanting. Rani vamped over to me knowing that I would freak out. All I did was glare at Matteo, this is his fault./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ab1b3306f104967b0c054474a3f045bb""What's going on?!" I screamed at Rani./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4297a86212b31dcc2e564b1d8e923c3a""Carlos has gotten his whole gang here," Rani screamed back./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f4320facb87b2c3ad4f56b2da07fb4f7""Where's Carisa?!" I screamed. "Will she need help too?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="beb5308c2379a49217096ca8315fa929"I scan around the room for Carisa. It's complete chaos, vampires attacking wolves, wolves striking with knives at the vampires. In a corner stood Carisa, being cornered by a wolf. She pulled out her switch blade and stabbed the man in the heart. The man dropped dead, blood pouring out of his hearts./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e469683132721d4cd6cdb593ae25ef04""Rani!" I called. "Did you see that?" br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yeah," she nodded. "Wait here, I'll go rescue her."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="f5ff7a93168a47e09c1e0702fa47114b"Just as Rani vamped over, Carisa's eyes turned gold. She dropped to the ground, screaming. When her mouth opened, fangs appeared. The whole room stopped fighting, the attention turned to Carisa, screaming in agony and growling./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="13474bb8912ff2ac92bbf7e616c123ac""She's a wolf?!" Carlos said, in horror./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="987df837adb339212f1a10f9a4124eb6"He walked over to her, and held out a hand to help her up. Rani vamped in front of him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="29679620414482ebe7165b0c11a48454""I don't think so," she said. "You're not taking her."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="2d1d12ffd59f5542492b9b73b1ff90d8""You won't be able to help her," he told her. "Full moon's in two weeks, she needs preparation for that. Something that only we can do."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a3e9d8c94244715cbe164b90dd3f3fbf"Rani looked around for the gang's acceptance of this./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e916aaaa38780d69f77c206c73bed9bb""Fine," she said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ea9b804bd479e8dbf4ad2e6261f4aac0"Carlos helped Carisa up and helped her over to another wolf in the warehouse./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="b032be09de58e062fc1c09e0b8361823""This isn't over," Carlos said. "We'll be back."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="c033ed36b5bd0e8c932a7aca24821ee4"Carlos signaled for the wolves to leave. As Carlos passed Matteo, Matteo muttered something to him under his breath, which seemed to make Carlos sad. Carlos exited the warehouse, leaving the rest of us in silence./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3666eb07a8bb206607058b5d10a0080b""We'll take the deal of allegiance," Matteo said. "The next full moon will be dangerous, we will protect you if you promise to protect us."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d7fa50a5bcdc418bb13926e68287d605"Hugo waited a moment for someone to disagree./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="72fe83bf16e939ff9cddeebb8c6b170d""Deal," he finally said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8d4bb9178da3152cdadaad8b38e90219""Alright," Matteo said, putting his arm around me, obviously getting ready to vamp out./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="95a23be4d903258c3d04f86aa45bf5ec"He raised his eyebrows at Rani and Tony, and suddenly everything went blurry. Then, boom we were in front of the mansion. Rani and Tony must've vamped inside, whereas Matteo stopped outside./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4581eed3821a8e4d3d7fa5ff8a3d6c69""What did you say to Carlos?" I asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="75bbc7842548f58370bfb8f5d5c74853""We're over," he said, clearly disappointed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4c5294097c27577592be6c7485378b46""I'm so sorry," I tried to console him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a73c25c46febef5e7c341c27588b68ea""Don't be," he told me. "He was a threat to those I care about. It had to be done."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="46bd60d6370b75961efb349808521a6c""Let's go inside," I told him. "We'll all need to talk about what happened tonight."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5a69a0a5c124935b58843346a414a1f9"He put his arm around me again and vamped me inside to the living room, where Rani and Tony were sitting. I sat down next to Rani./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="20d95cc11b812e95b157ffe0ce0b7c51""What are we going to do about Carisa?" I asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4f0a1370e9feec1df4fb5dd0046978b8""I don't think we can do anything," Tony said. "I've seen it happen before, she'll come back pretend to have it under control, she'll trick us and leave us in the dust. I don't intend for that to happen."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="885109c9c3e35040ca8fe778db74d8dc""As much as I hate to say it, Antonio's right—" Rani started./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="54360d7294f628becb8bda1a0d29f383""You can say that again," Tony cut her off./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8234e28e7a736448aed5facbbc127580""Shut up," she told him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8ac2695fc6e67c0c1f91afee98161083""Fine," he replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5aedb9667f9a90a0d8e405bd1e0003f9""But, we have to stay on guard now," she continued. "Carlos is exactly like Hugo, but a werewolf version, he won't stop until he wins."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="03751f069dc3566da9e387005a9d7de0""I should get home," I said. "I texted my Mom, she should be here soon."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5bfb231e1d966e79c94194a7d81f99e0""Okay," Rani said. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Look, I don't want to sound too... demanding," I started. "But is there some way to keep my Mom out of this?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e7f264e9ae62c435e2699744986801f9""We can try," Matteo said. "Can't guarantee anything, but we can try."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a0e0690731318a9ec3bc15528fcff15d""We?" Tony asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6fb2c00eda674095b4c32aae17e8570f""I'll take it up with the Strychnos," Rani said, ignoring Tony. "They can help too."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="25c8916b420569e58021436e3ce115b6""Thanks," I said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="261a0f584cb0ba2d8bc1ca9f5690786d"A car horn beeped outside./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="02316abca7cb966c3858c12ea647fcb0""That would be my cue to leave," I said. "See you soon."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="ea5c398b02ea8f069e785f0c4848e1fc"I walked out of the house and got into the car./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="6028cd3e04ca8111e8a7dc7a7ca5ed3e""Did you have a nice day?" asked Mom./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e7db8d452206e0013a33d84d6661fa72""I guess you could say that," I replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bef893ef025460f88559bf48a546fec7""Well that's good," she said. "Did you do anything fun?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="cf6d3b6a4a6fa84bb913aaecd44ee542""I guess, we kinda just hung around together and played a few board games," I lied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bce4cf43bce5fbe01b72be764f916177""It's nice to see that you've made some friends," she told me./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3465c06cb56f39629724e730bddcbe56""Thanks Mom," I replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9c03e6c236fb78c2babf9398d3b32f11"I wonder if I could ever tell her, about the supernatural world. I wonder if she was to find out about it. I'm more so concerned about these next few weeks and whether they would affect me. More importantly, if they would affect her negatively. I can't lose her too./p 


	4. Chapter 4: The Moon

The first full moon since I have arrived is about to occur. Rani and Matteo are running around securing the house and other things, whereas Tony is completely chilled about it.

"Tony, why are you acting like this isn't a big deal?" Rani asked. "Our rivalry with the Shadow pack is stronger than ever now, we need to be worried."

"Yeah, Rani's right," Matteo said. "Especially with recent events, we are not in good terms with the wolves."

"They turn every month, it's not like it's a surprise," he said. "Besides, there's a deal with the sheriff that if they venture out of bounds whilst they're wolves they get an immediate execution, I'd say we're fine."

"Get yourself killed then, see if—" Rani was cut off by the doorbell.

She vamped over to the front door, I peeked out to see who was there. In the doorway stood a tall girl with short curly hair; Carisa.

"Carisa's back," I muttered to Tony and Matteo.

"Like I've said before," Tony said to us all. "Watch your backs, do not give away any of our real scheming."

"I'm sure that would be great advice except; we don't have any real scheming," I reminded him.

"You get the point," he replied.

Rani walked in with Carisa.

"Hey guys!" she said, acting as if she was happy. "Look who's back?"

"Carisa!" I exclaimed and got up to hug her.

Matteo and Tony weren't as great actors as Rani and I, so they gave her what had to be the world's most awkward hug.

"So what are you doing back here?" I asked, taking my seat on the couch again.

"I have completed the wolves training for tonight's full moon," she began, taking a seat across from me. "They said I was allowed to go out for the day and do whatever, so I chose to see you guys again."

"That's great," I told her.

"Yeah," she said, unconvincingly. "So have you guys got any plans for tonight? Like are you moving somewhere else for the night or what?"

Tony and I both glanced at one another, I could see his point.

"Nah, we're pretty chill about this whole full moon thing," Tony lied. "We were just going to throw a little party or something."

"Oh okay," Carisa said, unable to contain her obvious smirk.

The doorbell rang again.

"Who could that be?" I asked. "It's not like we have any other friends."

Rani vamped over to the door, and opened it.

"Why hello Sheriff Tracy!" she exclaimed loudly so the rest of the house knew she was here.

"Hello Rani, I'd like to speak with Antonio privately," she said.

"Antonio!" Rani called. "It's the sheriff! She'd like to speak with you!"

"Coming!" he called back.

He got up and left the room, whilst Rani came back in.

"How was training with the wolves? " Rani asked Carisa.

"I hated every moment of it, Carlos is one mean guy," she told us, again, unconvincingly. "That's why I'm back, I don't want to be a part of the Shadow Pack, not with Carlos anyway."

I noticed that Matteo kind of stayed silent in all of this, I guess the subject of Carlos was still a painful one for him. He just sat there with a brooding look on his face. I gave him a little nudge, to urge him to talk.

"Do you and the Strychnos have any plans to take down the wolves?" Carisa asked.

I will never know why the wolves chose her to be a spy, she was the world's most obvious and unsubtle spy ever.

"Yeah, we were planning on attacking them tonight, right before the full moon strikes, so none of us get bitten," Matteo said.

"What do you mean bitten?" I asked. "Are their bites deadly to you?"

"Of course, that's one of the main reasons we're rivals," he told me.  
"Oh, my bad," I said. "Rani never told me that I didn't know."

"Sorry Roxy," she apologized. "That one must've slipped my mind."

Tony appeared in the doorway, making me jump a little, but not enough for anyone to notice. Carisa was distracted on her phone, and he winked at us while she wasn't looking.

"The sheriff just told me about a new law that she has made," he informed us. "Wolves out of bounds won't be executed from this moment on."

"Alright, well I have to leave now," she said, getting up.

I was surprised she managed not to say 'I have all the information I need now.'

"Aw, so soon?" Rani asked.

"Yeah," Carisa replied. "I don't want the wolves to get, um... suspicious."

We all gave her a hug goodbye.

"Well, see you soon!" I exclaimed.

"Bye!" she said, leaving the room.

"Going down the hallway... out the door... down the front steps... into a car," Antonio narrated. "And she's officially gone.'

"I think she was the world's most obvious spy," I told them.

"You can say that again," Tony said. "By the way, there is no new rule. I just want the wolves to get executed."

"We figured," said Rani. "Matteo, you've barely said a word today."

"Sorry," he replied. "I haven't, um, fed in a while. I'll be back with some blood bags.'

"Bring me some too," Tony told him.

Matteo got up and went to go fetch some blood bags.

"We really need to prepare for tonight now," Rani said. "Roxy you'll have to go home tonight."

"That's a bad idea," I told her. "They know who I am, they know my scent and they know I hang out with you lot. I can't go home, I'd be endangering my Mom."

"Fair enough," she said.

"You said you know witches," I said. "Can they cast a spell for us so that we're protected?"

"Unfortunately not," Rani said. "They've sided with the werewolves."

"Is there a remote place that we could hide?" I asked.

"A friend I used to know owned a cabin on the other side of town," she informed me. "We could go there."

"And if they find us?" I asked.

"That will be a problem," Rani agreed.

The room was silent for another few moments. Matteo walked in, drinking out of a blood bag and handed one to Tony who nodded his thanks.

"I have an idea," I told them.

"Alright, spill," Tony said.

"Are there any towns nearby that have cheap motels?" I asked.

"Plenty," Matteo replied.

"If some of us go to the motel and stay there, and some of us stay here and make sure the wolves don't do too much damage to the Strychnos," I said. "That way, we're not all totally screwed over. Also, if the wolves approach you, then you can jump in the car and drive to the motel."

"That's not bad," Tony told me.

"Thanks," I said proudly.

"Question is," she said. "Who's going to stay here?"

"I hate to say this Rani," I began. "But the Strychnos only made the deal in the first place, so that you, specifically, could protect them. Meaning that you and someone else must stay."

"I'll stay," said Tony, instantly. "She's not dying on my watch."

"I'll look up a few motels and call up to reserve a room," said Matteo, leaving the room again.

"I'll call up Hugo and tell him the plan," said Rani, leaving the room.

"That leaves us to board the house up," said Tony, getting up. "Come on."

He started to head out of the room and down the hallway, I followed him.

"How do we do that?" I asked.  
"Ever heard of wolfsbane?" Tony asked.  
"Of course," I replied.

"We've got to put a lot of that everywhere," he told me. "It's like vervain for werewolves."

"Is that it?" I asked.

"I'm going to set up traps at every entryway into the house," he told me.

We arrived in his dingy, metallic smelling room. He opened up a door that lead to a plantation.

"This is all wolfsbane," he told me.

"Gee whiz," I replied.

"Pick them, hang them in every entry way to the house," he instructed me. "If you mix salt with wolfsbane and leave a circle of it around the house, it's said that wolves can't enter houses with rings of that around it, so try that too."

So that's what I did for the next two hours. After Matteo and Rani had finished their duties that came to help too. Matteo and I were outside the border as the last piece of salted wolfsbane was placed.

"There," I said. "We're done."

"I really am skeptical of whether this will work," Rani told me.

"So am I," Tony said. "But we should go board up that cabin."

"Right," she said. "I'll bring the car around."

She walked off probably to some huge, fancy garage that they had somewhere. I'm just surprised that this place didn't have horses and butlers to complete it.

"Where are we staying?" I asked Matteo.  
"A motel four suburbs away," he told me. "I think we'll be safe there."

A red Ferrari rolled right out in front of us, Rani wound down the window and poked her head out.

"Really?" I asked. "You guys have a Ferrari too?"

"Yup," Tony replied.

"What's next, unicorns?" I retorted.

"Antonio!" Rani called. "Get in!"

Tony vamped into the front passenger seat and they sped off.

"Don't tell me there's another Ferrari?" I asked Matteo.

"I prefer something a little less flashy," he told me. "I'm more into older cars."

"Even better," I said sarcastically. "It had better not be a buggy."

He chuckled.

"No," he told me. "I have a nineteen-sixty-nine Chevy Camaro."

"A what?" I asked.

"A basic car from nineteen-sixty-nine," he said.

"You should have just said that," I told him.

He rolled his eyes.

"I don't mean to rub salt in the wound," I started. "But, how are you with the whole Carlos thing?"

"I'm fine, I'll get over it," he said, and started walking in the house.

"Don't push me away," I said firmly. "I've been there, I lost my Dad remember? I pushed everyone away... trust me it feels better to let it all out."

"The thing is just that, I don't know how to react," he told me. "And the amount of times he's brought up isn't helping."

"It's okay," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm worried that I'll never get over this," he told me. "That I'm going to live forever with only him in my memory."

"Matteo, you were dating a royal jerk and put his own pack over your relationship," I told him. "If he couldn't put you first, like you would have him, then he's not worth it."

"Thanks Roxy," he said, seemingly a little happier.

"Now, you need to go pack for the night," I ordered him. "And I, need to go eat something to distract from the soppy stuff that just came out of my mouth."

He chuckled.

"Alright," he said. "I'll come down in a bit."

I walked to the door that I now officially knew was actually the kitchen. I grabbed a chocolate bar from the pantry and started to eat. A heard a noise coming from the front door, it should be Matteo. Suddenly an arrow flew right past me. I screamed and grabbed a knife that sat nearby. I opened the door of the kitchen, and there stood two strange men, one with a crossbow and the other with a dagger. I held my knife out threateningly, despite the fact that my arms were shaking uncontrollably.

"You come closer," I said. "And I will hurt you."

"Oh yes, because knives can beat crossbows," said the one with the crossbow.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"You'll see," smirked the one with the dagger.


	5. Chapter 5: The Turn

I took that as a hint to get moving, I turned around to bolt. I felt a sudden jolt in the back of my leg, I screamed as I fell to the ground. I looked at my leg, there was a crossbow arrow lodged in it. I screamed more as I yanked out the arrow from my leg. The one with the dagger moved his arm in a throwing motion, so fast I could barely see it happen. I screamed in pain again as the dagger impaled me in the stomach. I saw Matteo running down the stairs.

"MATTEO!" I screamed as loud as I could. "HELP!"

I yanked the dagger out of my side, and screamed again. Matteo vamped over to the men and snapped the dagger guy's neck, he grabbed a crossbow and shoved it into the crossbow guy's neck. He vamped over to me, bit his wrist and held it out to me.

"Quick. Drink," he said. "My blood will heal you."

I reluctantly but hesitantly put my mouth to his wrist and drank from it. The pain faded away, and the wounds closed.

"We need to leave," Matteo told me. "Now."

He vamped up to his room and brought down both our bags for tonight. He handed me mine and grabbed my arm and hoisted me to the car.

"Matteo, stop," I yelled at him. "Calm down!"

He grabbed both bags and put them in the back of the car. I hopped in the passenger seat, and once he got in the driver's seat and started the car; we sped off.

"I'm sorry for being so aggressive back there," he said. "I couldn't see you get hurt again."

"Thanks for saving me," I said.

"Look," he started. "I know you don't want to hear this. But it's getting too dangerous for you to just be a human... I think, I think that maybe you need to be turned into a vampire for your protection."

"You're right," I told him. "I don't want to hear this. I don't want to be a vampire, Matteo. I can't be something that I loathe, I don't want to hate myself."

"Roxy, you just got attacked by werewolves," he told me. "How long will you go on being vulnerable and unable to protect yourself?"

"Because I don't want to be associated with a demon who kills for pleasure!" I exclaimed.

He stayed silent for a while, as if my comment hurt his feelings, which wasn't my intention. I looked out at the scenery, not that there was much of it, but it was the only thing I could do. The thing was, if I was a vampire

"There's a cure," he finally said. "For vampirism."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Because once this is all over, you can take it," he told me. "You can become human again and live your life until the end."

"Fine," I said, reluctantly. "I'll do it. I'll turn; but only for the sake of self-defense."

He pulled into a carpark and stopped the car.

"We're here?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "We're here."

He stopped the car and took out the keys, I jumped out and grabbed the bags. We walked to the main reception.

"Room for Matteo Fonte," Matteo told the receptionist, as I handed him his bag.

"Ah yes," the receptionist replied. "Here are your keys, the room's just down the hall."

I took the keys and walked down the hall with Matteo following me.

"How does one turn?" I asked.

"Really?" he asked. "In the hallway? Not even in the room?"

"It's not like anyone's listening," I said. "Or like they will understand."

"Well," he said, snatching the keys from my hands and unlocking the door. "You never know who can be supernatural."

He opened the door and let me in first, he then closed it behind us.

"But now that we're alone," he continued. "I'll explain how turning works."

"Thanks," I said, dropping the bags at the foot of one of the beds.

"You have to die with vampire blood in your system," he said. "Then you have twenty four hours to drink human blood or else you die."

"So you don't have to die or turn from getting fed on?" I asked.

"No, that would be unfair," he replied.

"What time is it?" I asked. "Will the wolves be out yet?"

"It's seven now," he told me. "So they should be starting to turn."

"What have other full moons been like?" I asked.

"Normally we just put wolfsbane at every entry point and relax inside," he told me. "But we've never been such big enemies until now."

"Hmm," I replied.

"Isn't it ironic that we became enemies just as I was dating the leader?" he asked.

"That is ironic," I agreed. "And then you broke up with him and then everything turned worse."

"Are you saying it's my fault?" he questioned.

"No," I replied. "It's not, Carlos led you to break up with him. Then he couldn't control his emotions and sent Carisa over to spy and those two werewolves to kill me."

He nodded.

"When should I turn?" I asked.

"Now's as good of a time as ever," he told me. "You've already got vampire blood in your system."

He stepped forward, and place his hands around my neck. With a flinch it snapped, and everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6: The Death

I woke up on the bed of the motel, my head hurt like crazy. My stomach grumbled, not for food, but for blood. My neck was burning, I looked down to see why, my vervain necklace. I ripped it off and got up, Matteo wasn't anywhere to be found. Can I just say that dying is a very weird experience? I checked my phone for the time; two in the morning. I hadn't been dead too long. Only seven hours. I say that as if that's a completely normal thing to happen. My ears picked up on a noise from outside. A maid. I opened the door and walked over to the lady, who was pushing a room cleaning cart in the opposite direction. My blood lust grew as I approached her. I felt fangs grow from my canines, I gently touched them with my finger. I reached the lady. I turned her around and sunk my teeth into her neck. She screamed. Matteo came vamping out from our room and pulled me off of her.

"Roxy, stop!" he yelled at me.

He turned to the maid, who had blood dripping down her neck.

"Forget this ever happened," he told her. "Go clean yourself up, you will cover up the mark until it's gone."

"I will go home and forget," she replied, in a sort of trance.

"Good," he said, patted her on the back and turned back to face me. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Feeding," I told him, wiping the blood off around my mouth. "The hunger is unbearable."

"It always is right after you've turned," he told me. "It'll calm down eventually."

Matteo's phone rang.

"Let's go back inside," he told me. "It's Tony."

We walked inside, as his phone continued to ring. He closed the door behind us. He answered the call and put it on speaker.

"What's up?" asked Matteo.

"We're coming over now," said Tony, sounding quite stressed. "We're a few minutes away."

"What's wrong?" asked Matteo, in a more serious tone.

"I'll explain when I get here," he said. "We're pulling up now, come outside."

The phone hung up and Matteo gestured for me to come with him. He didn't vamp run, which was lucky for me, however because I'm the world's most unfit person I tried to run at the same pace as him. I probably looked like a crippled sloth, but then I remembered, I could vamp run too. Tony vamped in front of us, carrying Rani in his arms. She had a huge gash mark on her neck, that seemed to be spreading. Her face was pale and she looked weak.

"She's been bitten," he said, very distressed.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed, with disbelief. "Is there a cure for it?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," he told us. "I'm going to search for a cure while you two look after her."

You could see the pain in his eyes.

"Okay," said Matteo, he was clearly hurting too. "I'll call you if you need to come back immediately."

"So I'm screwed then," Rani said. "We won't find a cure, and Antonio won't even be here to say goodbye."

"I _will_ be back," he said. "You're not dying."

He kissed her forehead and vamped off.

"Hey Roxy," said Rani, unfocused. "Why can't I hear your heart beat?"

"I'm a vampire now," I told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"I got attacked by wolves after you left," I told her. "They almost killed me, and I don't want to be a useless human unable to defend myself."

"Fair enough," she replied, though it was obvious she disagreed.

She started to cough up blood. I screamed and rushed to get a bucket for her.

"What do we do?!" I panicked.

"We can't do anything," Matteo replied.

"What do you mean?!" I asked, rushing back with a bucket.

"I mean to say that this is part of the process," he replied. "There is no cure for this, Tony's wasting his time. He should be here with Rani."

I looked back at Rani's gash, it have double in size and its impact was only getting worse. She started shouting at us in another language.

"The hallucinations have set in," said Matteo.

"What language is she speaking?!" I asked Matteo.

"Hindi, her native language," he told me.

"Do you speak any languages?" I asked suddenly curious despite the situation.  
"I'm Italian, so I speak that," he replied. "You?"

"My Mom is French and she taught me that," I told him, ending the conversation.

Rani stopped screaming and we looked over at her.

"She's lived a long time," I said. "Will that impact the way the bite affects her?"

"She's got more bad memories, so yeah," he said. "It will. This is only going to worsen as time goes on."

The phone rang again, it was obviously Tony.

"Tony, what's up?" he asked.

"I might have something," he said. "A witch may be able to syphon the magic out of the bite."

"Are they willing to help?" Matteo asked.

"We're whooshing over right now," Tony said. "Hang on a second."

He hung up the call.

"Whooshing?" I asked.

"When a witch or warlock will just wave their hand and they appear in another place," Matteo replied.

Just as he finished his sentence, Tony and some witch popped out in a cloud of purple smoke, right front of us. I jumped.

"Do it," Tony ordered the witch.

The witch calmly walked over to Rani. Rani screamed at her in Hindi and vamped her into a corner, where she continued to scream at her. Tony and Matteo rushed over to pull Rani off of her before Rani could injure the witch. They pushed her into the bed and held her down by each limb. I rushed over and helped to keep her down.

"What're you doing?" Tony asked with disgust. "You're going to get hurt."

"I'm a vampire now," I told him. "I won't get hurt."

He death glared at Matteo.

"Why would you turn her?" he asked.

"She got attacked by wolves earlier," he replied. "It's for her protection."

The witch now must've felt secure enough to work her magic as she walked over to Rani, and placed her hand near the gash. She closed her eyes to concentrate. The rest of us waited in silence, while Rani was squirming around like crazy. The witch took her hand off Rani's neck and coughed up blood herself.

"It can't be done," she said. "Other witches must be blocking it."

"So there's nothing more to be done?" asked Tony, even more stressed.

"I'm afraid not," she said. "I'm truly sorry about your friend."

She whooshed out and tears started to fall down Tony's face. Rani seemed to have calmed down from her episode.

"Antonio," she simply said.

"We should say goodbye," said Matteo.

I walked over to her.

"Roxy I'm sorry that you had to get caught in our supernatural mess," she told me. "But I'm glad we became friends, you're a really nice person, don't let go of that."

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you," I said. "I'll really miss you, and who else is going to keep Tony in check?"

She managed to laugh a little.

"Goodbye," I told her. "We'll see each other again sooner or later."

I walked over to the side allowing Matteo to step through to say his goodbye. I looked over at Tony, who was clearly trying to hold his emotions in, but failing.

"Matteo," she said. "Keep your brother in line."

"I'll really miss you too," he half smiled, with a tear rolling down his cheek.

"You can be rather closed off at times, but you're one of the nicest friends I've met," she told him. "I want you to move on from Carlos."

"You knew about Carlos?" he asked.

"You can't hide everything from me," she smiled.

"Wait what?" Tony questioned.

"There are so many better people out there for you," she said. "I love you, and you deserve a good life."

"Goodbye," he said, hugging her her, both of them were crying now.

I found a few tears rolling down my cheek too, but I can't imagine how hard it would be for both Matteo and Tony, they're known her for over a century. Matteo stepped aside, allowing for Tony to say his final words.

"We should go," Matteo said to me.

I nodded, and I walked out with Matteo to the parking lot.

"Do you need a hug?" I asked Matteo.

"Why?" he asked.

"Hugs release endorphins, and endorphins make you feel better. They also release oxytocin which helps heal physical wounds faster," I told him, he just looked away. "I know you want to."

I wrapped my arms around him and he cried a little on my shoulder.

"You're going to be okay," I told him.

"I know," he said, getting out of the hug. "I'll just really miss her."

After a few moments, Tony came outside.

"She's dead, let's go," he said, tears down his face however there was no emotion in his tone.

"We can't just leave her here," I said.

"Sure we can," Tony replied. "Let's go."

"Matteo," I said. "Come on."

I strutted off and he joined me.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"He's pretending that he doesn't care," he told me. "He's not flipped off his humanity switch yet, but he might."

"What's a humanity switch?" I asked.

"A vampire has the ability to turn off all their emotions," he told me. "He's on the brink of it, if he does he'll be ruthless."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Matteo replied. "He was in love with her, he'll spiral for a bit or a while and then he'll move on. It's what he does."

"And you're just going to leave him like that?" I asked.

"Unless we can bring back Rani," Matteo said. "There's not much we can do."

We arrived at the room. Rani lay on the bed, gray and withered, obviously dead.

"He didn't let the bite kill her," Matteo told me, analyzing her body. "He staked her."

"Why would he do that?" I asked.

"Put her out of her misery," he replied. "I don't think he could stand it anymore."

"No wonder he's trying to put it aside," I said.

Matteo wrapped Rani's body in a few blankets. He picked up the body and vamped out of the room, for once I could join in. It felt good to finally be able to keep up with everyone, despite the bad timing of this. Matteo placed her body in the trunk of the car. Tony had already called shot gun and was waiting in the front seat for us. I hopped in the backseat of the car, and waited for Matteo to hop in.

"Hurry up," said Tony, impatiently. "Let's go."

Matteo jumped in the passenger seat, he was still clearly shaken by it. I weirdly wasn't. Like, of course I was sad, but I wasn't completely devastated. Perhaps it was the fact that I didn't have such a strong emotional connection with her, and I hadn't known her for over a century.

"Will the wolves still be... well, wolves?" I asked.

"The night is almost over," Matteo told me. "The wolves will be done once we reach home."

"Leaves enough time for a feed," said Tony. "Wolves can be pretty tasty, you in Roxy?"

"In your emotionless feeding fest?" I asked. "I'll pass."

"That's a little rude," he replied.

There was an awkward moment of silence. There was something seriously wrong with Tony.

"So you and Carlos," Tony said. "And here I thought you had feelings for Roxy."

"Why would you think that?" I asked.

"So what's the gossip?" he asked. "The four-one-one?"

"We broke up after the night we went to the warehouse and the wolves attacked us," he replied.

"So you're the reason Rani's dead," Tony said with a murderous tone.

"I'm not the one who told the wolves about their new free range when they're wolves," Matteo replied. "So maybe you're the reason she's dead."

That shut Tony up. It shut him up for the rest of the ride. The entire ride was a ride of awkward silence, in which you could tell that Tony was secretly grieving, even though he wouldn't show it. Once we reached home, Tony got out immediately and vamped off.

"He really has lost it," I said to Matteo, getting out of the car.

"He'll be like that for a while," Matteo replied. "He better not blow our cover to the sheriff."

"The sun's going to come up in a few hours," I observed. "You should take me home, I don't have a daylight ring."

Matteo pulled something out of his pocket, a necklace.

"This is Rani's daylight necklace," he said. "I want you to take it."

I shook my head.

"Matteo, I can't do that," I said. "One of you two needs to take it, it's more sentimental to you."

"Neither of us has use for it," he told me. "Besides, you were her friend too."

He walked over to me and clasped the necklace around my neck.

"There," he said. "You don't have to fear the sun now."

"Thanks Matteo," I replied. "I should be getting home."

"We need to bury her body," he told me. "It's the respectful thing to do."

"Where's Tony?" I asked. "He should join too."

"You go find him, and meet me in the backyard," he said. "We'll go out into an old cemetery there and bury her."

"Where would Tony be?" I asked.

"Whatever parties are still going on," he told me. "Drunk teenagers are good targets, generally they're held at Dylan Jones' house, you know that one on the corner near the park?"

I nodded and he gently took Rani's body out of the car.

"Well, knowing Tony he'll be there," Matteo said, and chucked me the keys. "Take the car, you know how to drive right?"

"I'm seventeen, of course I do," I replied, getting in the car. "I'll be back soon."

"Don't damage the car," he called out.

I drove off, and the thought occurred to me that Matteo was also acting weird for someone who's best friend just died. Perhaps he was putting it off much like Tony was, just differently. I pulled onto the curb near the party house. I cautiously walked inside the house. Dylan stood near the door, drunk dancing with some girl. He noticed me walk in.

"Roxy!" he exclaimed, his breath reeked of alcohol. "Just who I'd like to make-out with, shall we go upstairs?"

"I'm not that desperate, and you're not that lucky," I rejected him. "I'm looking for someone, did Tony come in here?"

"You mean Matteo's brother?" he asked. "He's like over there with some girls."

I looked over to see Tony feeding on a girl, but making it look like they were just making out.

"Looks like they're getting steamy," winked Dylan and he went back to drunk dancing.

I marched over to Tony and yanked him off the poor girl.

"Tony," I scolded. "Now is not the time to be feeding on cheerleaders. Let go of her."

He carelessly let go of the body, and she flopped to the floor.

"Fine then," he said. "Let's go."

"Not after you compel her to forget," I said.

"Fine," he agreed.

He picked her up with ease and looked right into her eyes.

"Forget what I just did," he told her. "Roxy did this to you."

"What?!" I screamed at him.

"Roxy did this to me," she repeated.

I snatched the body from him and tried to repeat what he had just done. I had never compelled someone before, so this would be tricky. I looked her in the eye.

"You will forget this happened," I told her. "You made out with someone and this accidentally happened, you will cover the wound until it's gone."

"I made out with someone and this happened," she repeated.

"Let's go," I told Tony.

I didn't give him much say in the matter, as I dragged him by the arm out to the car. He reluctantly got in the car.

"So what are you dragging me out of there for?" he asked.

"We're going to bury Rani's body," I told him.

"Spare me the details," he replied.

"You're not having a say in this matter," I told him.

"Says who?" he asked. "I'm stronger than you."

"Whatever," I told him. "You know deep down this is what you want."

"Whatever you say," he replied.

I pulled up at the house.

"I told Matteo we'd meet him in the garden," I said.

"Great," he retorted and vamped to the garden.

I vamped after him and joined them both in the garden.

"Let's get this over with," Tony just said and vamped off again.

"I'm not vamping after him," I told Matteo.  
"Me neither," he agreed.

"Where's Rani?" I asked.  
"She's in a coffin next to the dug-out grave," Matteo said.

How did he dig out a grave and get a coffin in the time it took me to pull Tony off of some cheerleader? We approached the grave, complete with a rock memorial, painted:

'Rani, a beloved friend and companion. 1649 – 2016.'

Matteo pulled out three small bunches of flowers and handed both Tony and I a bunch.

"Spare me the sentiment," Tony said. "Is this the time when we speak our last words to her and honor her?"

"Do what you wish, Tony," Matteo snapped. "Deny there was ever anything between you, deny the fact that you're on the brink of falling apart. But don't ruin it for the rest of us."

"Whatever brother," Tony retorted, throwing the flowers on the ground. "Here lies Rani, who used to be alive but now she's dead; whoop de doo, not like people die all the time."

He turned around to Matteo, and stepped into his personal space.

"Good enough for you now?" he asked.

He vamped off.

"He's never been this bad before," Matteo confessed. "I don't know how long this will go for."

"I guess we'll just have to leave him," I replied.

"Help me lift her coffin in the grave," he ordered me.

I placed my hands on one side of the coffin, and Matteo did the same on the other side. We lifted and placed it in the hole that was dug out for it. He covered the grave with the leftover dirt from before.

"Do you want to say something?" I asked.

"I don't think I can," he told me. "The more I think about it, the worse the feeling of sadness gets."

I hugged him again.

"You've had a bit of a rough patch lately," I told him. "It's going to be okay."

"Thanks for being here for me," he said. "If you weren't here right now, I would probably be in the same state as Tony."

"I should get home. The sun's almost up," I told him.

"I'll drop you off," he told me.

"Thanks," I thanked him.

We walked back to the front yard of the house.

"How are you in all of this?" he asked.

"I have no idea," I told him. "I feel like I should be sad, but on the other hand, I'm scared I'll fall apart like I did with my Dad."

We got in the car and took off.

"How did he die?" Matteo asked.

"He went hiking and he never came back," I said. "They never found his body, and they never found any traces of him either. His tent was ripped open and his stuff had been scavenged through. It's thought that whatever broke into the camp took him."

"That's awful, I'm so sorry," he apologized.

"Don't be," I replied. "I need to get over it, I've dwelled on it for too long. What happened to your parents after you became a vampire?"

"Let's not get into that topic," he said. "Besides, we're at your house now."

I got out of the car, weirded out by him avoiding the question of his parents.

"I'll see you soon," I yawned, remembering I haven't slept for ages. "I'll probably come by later for blood bags."

"Alright," he replied. "See you."

He drove off and left me alone near the front door. A mysterious stranger stood across the street, it was hard to make out his features. Whatever he was here for, I wasn't going to stick around for it. I unlocked the door with my key and tried to enter, but I couldn't. Oh yeah, vampires can't enter houses without being invited in. I turned behind to see the stranger, but he was gone. I closed the door and rang the doorbell. Within a few minutes, my Mom came to the door. She opened the door and gave me a funny look.

"Sorry Mom, I forgot my keys," I lied.

"Oh," she said sleepily. "Well, come in then."

I walked in with ease.

"Sorry Mom," I repeated. "Go back to sleep."

"Goodnight, dear," she told me. "I'll see you later this morning."

I nodded at her as she went back to her room. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, once I was done I also headed back to my room. I stripped into my pyjamas and immediately fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.


	7. Chapter 7: The Awakening

_..._

 _I watched as I opened the front door, where a stranger stood. I was younger, not by much from the age I am now, but I was a lot shorter._

 _"Hello Roxy," he said, he had dark black hair yet his skin was pale white and his eyes a striking light blue._

 _Feelings rushed through me as I saw myself look at him._

 _"Who are you?" I asked._

 _"Where's your father?" he asked._

 _"I'm here! I'm here!" my Father called as he rushed down the hallway before I got a chance to say anything. "Come in."_

 _The man walked through the door and followed my Dad into the living room. I went to head off back to my room._

 _"Actually Roxy," my Dad started. "This will involve you."_

 _I turned around and headed into the living room._

 _"I can't lie to you anymore," he told me._

 _"Lie about what Dad, you're an honest person," I told him._

 _"There is a world out there, that you'll never understand," he started. "A world filled with creatures that would keep you up at night and I'm one of them."_

 _"Dad, I don't underst—"I tried to but in._

 _"I'm a werewolf, Roxy," he told me._

 _"Dad, this isn't funny," I told him._

 _"I'm a danger to you, to your mother, to everyone in this town," he continued. "And that's why I have to leave. I have to fake my death."_

 _I paused for a few moments, unable to comprehend what he was telling me._

 _"I love you and your mother too much to go through a divorce, and I love you too much to lose you to me being out of control," he told me. "I'm caught in a lie, it's what happens when you make a deal with old vampires. Your mother knows and she agrees, the last thing to do is to tell you that I'll miss you and I love you."_

 _"Dad, that's insane," I told him. "Why would you tell me this?"_

 _"Because you're going to forget," he told me through tears. "That's what he's here for."_

 _He gestured to the strange man next to him, he got up and looked me in the eye._

 _"You will forget everything that just happened in this conversation," he said._

 _"I will forget everything," I repeated in a trance like state._

 _..._

I shot up out of my bed. I sighed in relief that it was just a dream. I checked the time; two in the afternoon. I got up and changed into regular clothes. Mom would have already left for work, so I wouldn't have to worry about her whereabouts. I headed out of the house and rode my motor scooter over to the Fonte house. I knocked on the big wooden door, Matteo answered.

"Ah you," he said. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"I know it's been like a full twelve hours since I've seen you," I smiled.

"Well, we're not doing much," he said. "Tony has invited a few people over and he's feeding on them in his room."

"Do I have to be invited in?" I asked.  
"No, only vampires live here," he replied.

"Oh okay," I said and walked in. "So I forgot about the whole 'being invited in' thing last night when I went home. Awkward."

He chuckled, walking down the hall to the living room.

"Wow that's real smart," he told me.

"You're telling me," I replied, sitting down on the couch.

There was a knock at the door, Matteo rushed out of the room to get it. I used my new vampire hearing to hear the conversation that would take place, I felt so hip with these new advancements to myself. I heard the door open.

"Carisa?!" asked Matteo with a hint of disgust.

"I'd like to talk with you," she said.

A whooshing noise went past, must've been Tony vamping down the stairs.

"We're not interested," Tony replied.

"Trust me you are," she told them, and barged in.

I didn't need to see anything to tell that Tony was rolling his eyes and glaring at Matteo. By the sound of things she made her way down to the living room. She strutted through the door, and plonked herself on the couch, followed by Tony and Matteo.

"I think it's pretty clear that we're enemies, yes?" she said after everyone was sitting down.

"That was clear the moment your wolf gene was exposed," Tony said.

"Well, my pack has sent me here to talk to you," she continued. "We don't appreciate your incorrect information, now five members of the pack are being executed because they were out of bounds."

"Well that's too bad, isn't it?" retorted Tony. "Maybe if you weren't a two faced, back stabbing jerk that wouldn't have been a problem."

"Where's Rani?" she asked with a hint of a smirk on her face.

"Dead," said Matteo, angrily. "Because of your wolves."

"No," she smiled, getting up. "She's dead because of me."

Tony jumped up and seized her by the shoulders.

"You will pay for what you've done," he said angrily with tears in his eyes.

He pushed his hand through her chest and ripped out her heart. Carisa flopped to the ground, and Tony dropped the heart on her dead body. Tony walked out of the room and presumably back up to his room to continue his pity binge. I stood there, in shock.

"Holy crap," I said, in disbelief.

"I'm so sick of cleaning up dead bodies because of him," sighed Matteo. "I'm going to carry her to the car, take her to the wolves, tell them the reason she's dead and then vamp out before any of them can kill me."

"Sounds like a plan," I told him. "I suppose I'm part of this too?"

"If you want to be," he said.

"It's not like I have anything better to do," I replied.

"You have nothing better to do than clean up dead werewolf bodies and escape death by wolf?" he asked, with uncertainty.

"I know, my life is very unfortunate at the moment," I replied.

He hoisted the body over his shoulder, and picked up the heart.

"There's a tarp in the kitchen, can you get it and spread it out in the trunk of my car?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied.

I walked over to the kitchen, grabbed the tarp and laid it down in the trunk of the car before Matteo gently put the dead body and the heart there. Matteo closed the trunk and I waited for him in the car.

"Let's do this," I sighed, once he'd gotten in and started the car.

"We've got to be quick," he said and accelerated the car.

We reached the woods, within five minutes due to Matteo's reckless driving. The trip would normally be like ten to twenty minutes he told me, which was clearly indicating that he really wanted to get this over and done with. He re-hoisted the body on his shoulder and picked up the heart and walked into the woods. The wolves territory was set up like a small village. Cabins were there for families, there was a well for clean water. It was much more civilised than I would have thought earlier. I was more so expecting tents. As we walked deeper into their territory, more and more wolves gathered staring at us. Once we reached Carlos' cabin we knocked on the door.

"How do you know this is his cabin?" I whispered to Matteo.

"Been here before," he replied, awkwardly.

I finally got what he meant and made a loud 'Ohhhh' sound, to which he glared at me to stop. Carlos opened his door and we stepped back. Many wolves were watching from a safe distance.

"Matteo," he said coldly. "What do you want?"

"Certainly not another date," I muttered under my breath, Matteo nudged me to stop.

"My brother killed Carisa," he said, laying down the body on his little porch.

"Why would you bring us her body?" he asked. "That would mean war."

"Because she killed Rani," replied Matteo. "So we're even."

Carlos just smirked at what Carisa had done.

"You find this funny?" I asked, in disgust.

"It's rather amusing," he replied.

"I've not even been here long and I'm already sick of the rivalry between vampires and werewolves," I said. "Yesterday I got attacked by two of your own. I got shot with a crossbow and impaled with a dagger. I could've died..."

"But you're not," said Carlos.

"Technically, I am," I told him.

"You turned her too?!" he exclaimed at Matteo.

"It was for my own self-defense," I answered for Matteo. "I don't want to constantly be scared that I'm going to die because there are a bunch of lunatic wolves that want to kill me for no apparent reason."

Carlos didn't bother trying to rebuttal with this.

"I'm over this," I started. "I would like to live my life in peace. Gosh, no wonder Matteo broke up with you, you let your wolves kill and injure people."

Carlos gave Matteo a glare.

"You were the one that broke my trust, after you showed up at our meeting with the Strychnos for their allegiance," Matteo told him. "This is on you."

He gave me a look and an ever so subtle nod, and we vamped out of there together.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," I replied.

We both got in the car.

"I'm hungry," he said. "Do you want to stop by the pub?"

"Sure," I said. "I could do with a distraction for today."

"I'm in desperate need for a drink," he told me.

"Aren't you technically underage?" I asked.

"Compulsion is a beautiful thing," he replied.

I rolled my eyes.

"Are you going to drink?" he asked me.

"I've never properly had alcohol before," I admitted.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to teach you how to drink," he replied.

We pulled up at a dingy looking pub. I raised my eyebrows at Matteo.

"It's better than what it looks," he said.

"Alrighty then," I replied.

I got out of the car and headed into the pub.

"Are we going to sit at the bar or at a table?" I asked Matteo.

"Table," he said. "I like to be a bit more subtle."

A waitress approached us.

"Welcome to the Grill," she said. "Can I get you two anything?"

"I'll just have a burger," I told her.

"And you?" she asked, writing my order down.

"I'll have the same," he told her.

"Any drinks?" she asked.

"I'll just have a water," I told her.

"Same for me," Matteo told her.

"Alright," she said. "Your meals will be here soon."

"No alcohol?" I asked, after she left.

"Figured I should cut back a bit," he told me.

"Fair enough," I replied.

"I gotta go to the bathroom," he said, getting up. "Be right back."

I sat waiting for him to return. A stranger sat down in his spot, he seemed oddly familiar. He was middle aged, and had jet black hair slicked back.

"Hello there," he said.

"I'm not interested," I said, getting right to the point.

"I don't mean it like that, love," he said. "Your name?"

"I suggest you leave," I said, trying to compel him.

"You can't compel another vampire," he told me.

"You're new in town then?" I asked, not recognising him from the Strychnos.

"You could say that," he told me. "Now, your name?"

"I'm Roxy," I told him. "And you are?"

"Dracula," he said. "Count Dracula."

I gasped a little in my head, I'm pretty sure this is the world's first vampire, meaning that I'm screwed if I get on his bad side.

"Don't be afraid," he said, looking me right in the eye.

My body suddenly went calm, as if whatever he said would control me.

"I won't be afraid," I told him.

"Good," he replied.

I listened around for Matteo, I heard him talking to someone.

"Tony," he said, presumably on the phone. "Dracula is here, he's talking to Roxy. I think he's found us."

I wondered what Matteo meant by this, but I realised that I had tuned out of what Dracula was saying.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm a little out of it today."

"It's no trouble," he told me, looking me in the eye again. "You will trust me from here on, and do whatever I say."

I now felt a sense of trust for him, as if I could tell him my deepest darkest secrets, but I couldn't understand why. Matteo walked over to the table.

"Matteo, this is Dracula," I said, pretending to have not heard their conversation earlier.

"Matteo," Dracula smiled. "How nice to see you again."

"Dracula," Matteo replied. "What're you doing here?"

"Just stopping by," he said, vaguely.

You could tell this wasn't going to be a small 'stopping by', something told me that he'd be around for a while. Tony walked in the Grill like he owned the place, he spotted us and walked over.

"Hey Drac," Tony said. "Come here to terrorize young Italian children?"

Dracula scowled at him.

"I'm just passing by," he said, still scowling.

"Roxy," Matteo said. "We should go."

"But our food isn't here," I whined.

"She's right, it would be a shame to waste it," he agreed.

Right after he finished talking, the waitress came over with the food.

"That's two burgers," she told us.

Geez, that was quick.

"Can we get this to go?" asked Matteo.

"Sure thing," she said. "I'll just be a minute with the cheque too."

She walked off again, leaving us with the thick tension between Dracula, Tony and Matteo.

"Maybe I shall stay a while," Dracula said, finally.

"Why would you want to do that?" asked Tony, in a sassy tone.

"It's the warm reception I get from you two," he retorted.

The waiter returned with the meals in bags and the cheque, she placed them on the table and left again. Matteo pulled out a fifty dollar note, slapped it on the table, grabbed the doggy bag and walked out, Tony followed him.

"I better go," I told him. "I'll see you around."

I walked out of the café after Matteo and Tony.

"What did he do to get you two all stressed out?" I asked.

"He can still hear us," Matteo said. "Get in the car."

"I'm taking my own," Tony said. "Watch out brother, I'm breaking your rules."

Matteo rolled his eyes at him.

"Roxy, get in the car," he clarified.

"What if I went in Tony's car?" I asked, cheekily.

Tony held out his hand for a fist bump to which I obliged, Matteo just stood there glaring at us.

"Alright, alright," I told him, opening the car door. "I'm getting in."

I got in the car, and saw Matteo still glaring at Tony, and got in after a few moments.

"We knew Dracula from a long time ago," he said after we were two minutes away from The Grill.

"I figured as much," I told him.

"I'll show you the flashback when we get back home," he said.

"Flashback?" I asked.

"Vampires have the ability to let people into their mind to see memories if they want to," he told me.

We pulled up at the house, where my lonely motor scooter sat out the front, along with Tony.

"What took you so long?" asked Tony.

"I prefer not to get speeding tickets," Matteo replied.

"You can just compel your way out of them," he said.

"Come on," Matteo said, cutting to the chase. "Dracula can't get to us inside."

"Yes he can," I reminded him. "You're vampires so he can get in."

"Crap," he said. "We need to get that fixed, sign over the deed to someone else."

"Now's not the time, brother," Tony said.

We all walked inside to the living room and sat down.

"Dracula was around when Tony and I were living in Italy a long time ago," he started. "I'll show you."

He placed his hands on my head and I closed my eyes.

 _..._

 _"Newspapers! Get your newspapers!" called a voice from the street._

 _"Antonio, please go get one," said an older woman doing laundry, handing him some change._

 _She had rounded cheeks, light blue eyes and dark curly brown hair pulled up in a bun with wisps of it hanging out. She wore an old long dress, with a dirty apron on top._

 _"Yes mother," Antonio replied; with no hair gel, his hair was curly like his mother's._

 _He walked out of the small cottage and out on to the street, he came back in a few moments later with the newspaper._

 _"Two more children dead," Antonio announced. "This is horrible, why can't someone do something?"_

 _"Because it's a mystery, Antonio," his mother said folding up clothes. "Those children should not bother us, just be thankful it's not you or Matteo."_

 _"What if one day it is us?" he questioned._

 _"It will not be," she assured him. "Now, you are to get to work on time today. You should leave now; call your brother."_

 _"Matteo!" called Antonio. "We must leave for work now!"_

 _"I'm coming!" he called back._

 _He came out buttoning the top buttons of his shirt._

 _"I'm here, brother," he announced. "Goodbye, Mother."_

 _He hugged her and kissed her cheek, Antonio did the same after him._

 _"We will see you after work," Matteo said, heading out the door with Antonio._

 _They headed out onto the street, old with a stone road. Packed with people and small shops along the sides of the street, along with houses._

 _"So, brother, have you heard about the murdering of children?" Antonio asked._

 _"It is sickening," Matteo replied._

 _"Quite indeed," said a stranger appearing in front of them, who turned out to be Dracula._

 _"Who are you?" asked Antonio._

 _"The one responsible for those killings," Dracula smirked._

 _Both the boys faces intensified, and they turned away to run. Dracula grabbed their shoulders and turned them around._

 _"Don't be scared," he said, looking them both in the eye._

 _They both relaxed and looked at him._

 _"Why are you killing children?" Antonio asked._

 _"Easy targets," he told them. "Easy to feed on, everyone thinks it's an animal. Nobody believes the ones who have seen me."_

 _"Feed on?" said Matteo, alarmed. "What are you?"  
"I am a vampire," he told them._

 _"What are you going to do to us?" asked Antonio._

 _"I need you two to be my eyes and ears of this town," he said. "If you do your job well, I may just turn you into vampires too."_

 _"What if we don't want to be like you?" asked Antonio._

 _"Trust me, you do," he replied._

 _"You cannot make us do anything," Matteo told him._

 _"I can and I will," he replied, obviously compelling them again. "You will do as I say."_

 _"What can we do for you?" Antonio asked._

 _"Right now you will go to work," he told them. "I will find you later and we will talk."_

 _"Your name?" asked Matteo._

 _"Dracula," he replied. "Count Dracula."_

 _He vanished, most likely vamping off._

 _The scene changed to a blood covered Dracula, surrounded by many dead people lying on the floor. Matteo was bent down crying over a dead body, something in Antonio's eyes had changed; as if he had lost all feelings._

 _"You killed her!" Matteo screamed at Dracula, crying over his mother's body. "You killed all of them!"_

 _"You tricked us," said Antonio, his mind seemingly somewhere else. "You led us on for weeks, letting us believe that you wouldn't harm anyone."_

 _"It was all necessary for power," Dracula told him. "You now get what you want, you have my blood in your system. There's only one last step."_

 _Dracula vamped over and snapped Antonio's neck first, then Matteo's. They flopped dead, Dracula placed two rings underneath a note between them._

 _"I owe you that much," he said. "You are going to have to figure out the rest on your own."_

 _He vamped out of the room._

 _Matteo skipped the memory forward a few hours. Antonio opened his eyes, took a breath, and got up with immense speed. He breathed deeply as he scanned his surroundings, his eyes immediately going towards the paper. Matteo awakened too and moved over towards Antonio. They both picked up the rings and placed them on their fingers, and got up. Antonio took a drink of blood from a dead townsperson nearby, Matteo followed his example._

 _"We're vampires now," Matteo said with disbelief, wiping the blood from his mouth._

 _"I'm going to kill him," Antonio muttered._

 _"Brother, you cannot," Matteo told him._

 _"I DO NOT CARE!" Antonio screamed. "He killed the entire town, including us. He deserves to die."_

 _"He deserves worse than death, brother," Matteo told him. "But we must focus on the present now, we are vampires."_

 _"DO YOU NOT HEAR ME?!"yelled Antonio again._

 _"Brother, calm down," Matteo said calmly. "You are not yourself."_

 _"How can I be myself when people around us are dead?" Antonio asked. "Help me kill him, you are either with me or against me."_

 _Matteo took a second to think._

 _"Then we shall go our separate ways," Matteo said quietly.  
"You would dare?" Antonio miffed._

 _"Goodbye, brother," Matteo said. "I'll see you in a decade or two."_

 _Matteo had obviously already figured out the basics, because he vamped out of the room._

 _..._

I opened my eyes and was back in the Fonte mansion.

"That's the story," Matteo said. "That's how we know Dracula."

"Why was it in English?" I asked.  
"That's your main concern?" Tony asked, with disbelief.

"I translated it so you'd understand," Matteo told me.

"He didn't seem that bad when I met him," I said. "Maybe he's changed."

Antonio scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"People like him don't change," Tony told me.

"And how many centuries has it been since then?" I questioned.

"Like two," replied Tony.

"And you're saying that you still know what he's like even after two hundred years?" I asked.

"Point taken," he said. "But we should all be cautious."

"Can you get the deed signed over to someone who isn't dead?" asked Matteo to Tony.

"Who are we to ask?" he said.

"What about Opal?" I asked.

"What about her?" Matteo asked.

"She knows about our world, and she's not like her mother," I answered. "We could form a deal to protect her if she lets us sign the deed over to her."

"As dumb as you were ten seconds ago; that is actually a good plan," Tony said. "I'll get on it immediately."

He walked out of the room.

"There's more to the story than just that," Matteo told me. "But I don't want Tony to know I showed you."

He placed his hands on my head again and I closed my eyes.

 _..._

 _"Brother, how nice to see you again," Antonio said, standing next to a girl._

 _"Antonio, it has been two decades," replied Matteo. "Who's this and what do you want?"_

 _"My name is Rani," said the girl._

 _"Do not tell me this is about your little revenge fantasy about Dracula," Matteo replied. "It has been over a decade, get over it."_

 _"We have a plan," Antonio told him. "Hear me out."_

 _"You have two minutes before I vamp out of here," Matteo replied._

 _"It turns out that Dracula has a sister and a brother," Antonio told him. "We aim to kill the brother."_

 _"Why not just kill Dracula?" Matteo asked._

 _"Because he killed the ones we love," Antonio replied. "So we do the same to him."  
"And where does she come into this?" Matteo asked, gesturing to Rani._

 _"Dracula ruined my life too," she said. "I come from India, but when I moved here, to England, he found me. He wanted me to be his wife, but I refused so he killed anyone I ever cared about so I fled. He hasn't found me since then. I want to help you take him down."_

 _"Who is his brother and how do you suppose we find him?" Matteo asked._

 _"Lord Thomas Ruthven," Rani replied. "He's a real gentleman, he helped me escape the wrath of his brother, well, half-brother."_

 _"Yet you still would like to kill him?" Matteo asked._

 _"If that is what it takes to stop Dracula, then yes," she replied._

 _"Enact your plan," Matteo said. "If or when I see it fit, I will join. Until then, we will see."_

 _"We shall enact the plan," Antonio told him. "However, I know you will join in eventually."_

 _"We will see," Matteo replied and walked out of there._

 _..._

The scene changed back to the Fonte mansion living room.

"That time was actually in English, I'd learnt it fluently by then," he told me. "Long story short, we killed Ruthven and Dracula's wanted revenge ever since."

"So that's why he's here?" I asked.

"Presumably," he replied.

I heard the door open.

"She agreed to do it!" exclaimed Tony.

"Uh yeah," Opal added.

They walked into the living room.

"You'll do it?" asked Matteo the moment she walked in.

"If you stick to your end of the deal, and give me protection, then yes," she said. "I'll do it."

"Just pointing out that this deal does not include protection for your family, witchy," Tony told her.

"We'll get the papers, and until then, I suggest you go," Matteo told her.

"You should stay inside today, warn your Grandmother, start ingesting vervain," I told her. "Or keep it as a necklace. I don't know how strong your magic is, but this could be dangerous."

"Dracula even has the capability to compel vampires," Matteo added. "So we should start ingesting vervain too."

"Thanks," she replied. "Look, I'd also like to form allies with you guys."

"What do you have to offer?" Tony asked.

"My magic," she told us. "I'm getting stronger, my grandmother's teaching me. I can protect you from Dracula."

"What do you have to gain from us?" Tony asked again.

"What do you think?" she asked. "You are allies with the Strychnos, get me under their protection too."

"Deal," said Matteo, shaking her hand.

"You can't just do that," Tony argued.

"If we align with her, we align with her grandmother," he told Tony. "This is the smartest option."

"I'll see you guys later," Opal said.

"Be safe," I warned her.

She walked out of the room and I heard the front door shut as she walked out of the house.

"I'll call the house guy and get the forms," said Tony, also walking out of the room.

"He's being strangely precautious," I said to Matteo.

"That's because of the way Dracula reacted after we killed Ruthven," Matteo replied. "He tried to find us for about a decade and a bit after that, and then he seemingly just stopped."

"And now you think he wants revenge?" I asked.

"Seemingly," he said. "But we're not running again, we're going to fight."

"I take it this also involves me," I said.

"It does now that he's associated you with us," Matteo told me.

"Do you intend on killing him or what?" I asked.

"If it comes down to that, then yes," he told me.

I nodded and Tony walked back into the room.

"The papers are being sent over," Tony said. "It'll be here within a few days."

"Could you not get it to come faster?" asked Matteo.

"You can't compel people over the phone," Tony replied, with sass.

The doorbell rang, and Matteo vamped over to the door.

"Hello," said a deep, English accented voice. "Can I come in?"

"Follow me to the living room," Matteo replied.

I heard them as they walked down the hall into the room I was already sitting in. The deep voice had belonged to Dracula, and he walked into the living room.

"Why'd you let him in here?" Tony said, seriously.

"Tony, it's fine," I assured him.

"I've come to make amends," Dracula said.

"I don't believe you," Tony replied.

"Yes, you do," Dracula said, leaning over glaring into his eyes. "You will do what I say."

"He'll what?!" exclaimed Matteo.

"I will do what you say," Tony repeated.

"Forget I told you this," Dracula told hi.

Dracula pulled Matteo's head to face him.

"You too," he said to Matteo.

"I will do what you say," repeated Matteo. "I will forget."

"What are you doing?" I asked, calmly.

I felt as if I should be more scared, but I felt completely relaxed about it.

"I'm compelling them," he told me, as if they weren't in the room.

"How?" I asked.

"I'm one of the oldest original vampires," he told me. "I can compel humans and vampires as long as they don't ingest or wear vervain."

"Oh... okay," I said.

"Now," he said, turning his head back to Tony. "You will let me stay here in this mansion. And you will think that I do not want to cause harm. You will give me a new beginning."

"I will give you a new beginning," repeated Tony.

"Now, which bedroom can I take?" asked Dracula.

"There's a spare one upstairs, let me take you there," Tony told Dracula, getting up.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about," said Dracula, following Tony out of the room.

"It seems you have a new housemate," I told Matteo. "I should go now."

"See you tomorrow," Matteo nodded, still in a trance-like state.

I walked out of the house and headed home, hopefully soon things start to slow down.


	8. Chapter 8: The Massacre

"Roxy!" Mom called from what I assumed would be the kitchen.

I shot up out of bed and rubbed my eyes. God, I was tired.

"Yeah, Mom?" I called back.

"What?" she yelled.

"I said, 'yes Mom?'" I called again.

"I can't hear you come downstairs!" she called.

I don't get it, why do parents do that? They start the 'let's yell across rooms' game, yet they can't even finish it. I shoved my slippers on and rushed out to the kitchen, where Matteo stood. Why didn't she warn me that someone was here? Then I'd at least look semi-respectable.

"I'll leave you kids to it," Mom said, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes.

"He's cute," she mouthed at me, obviously not knowing he's gay.

She walked out of the room.

"We have a situation," said Matteo.

"Is what I'm wearing appropriate for the situation?" I asked.

"No, but that's not the point," he replied.

"Can I get changed first?" I asked.

"Fine," he replied.

I rushed to my room, shoving on jeans and t-shirt. Something told me that I'd need good shoes, so I shoved on some Doc Martens and trudged out of my room. I quickly grabbed my leather jacket and shoved that on too.

"What's our situation?" I asked.

"Not sure yet," he replied. "Hugo called about the Strychnos, I figured I should come get you."

"Okay, then let's go," I said, walking out the door.

We jumped in the car, where Tony was waiting in the driver's seat. Matteo and I got in the back.

"Do you have any idea why Hugo wants us there?" I asked Tony.

"Nope, he just said they had a crisis and they needed us there immediately," he replied. "Though we would have been faster if Matteo hadn't insisted we pick you up."

"She needs to know about this kind of stuff," Matteo replied.

"I'm honored," I told him. "How's Dracula?"

"We've barely seen him the past few days," Matteo told me. "Despite the fact that he's been living with us."

"Strange," I told him.

We reached the warehouse and I got out of the car. Hugo must've heard and came vamping out.

"We've been attacked," he told us. "Presumably by the wolves."

"Again?" I asked, and vamped into the house.

Hugo, Tony and Matteo appeared next to me after I'd finished.

"You're a vampire now?" he asked.

"Long story," I told him. "Now's not the time."

I scanned the room. Five vampires were scattered around the room, blood splattered everywhere. They all had claw marks over their bodies, and their hearts were ripped out of their chests, lying next to them. Were transformed wolves capable of ripping people's hearts out? Also, why is there no sign of a struggle?

"How is this possible?" I asked. "I thought wolves could only transform on full moons."

"The really experienced ones can half transform whenever they feel like it," Hugo explained.

"Call the sheriff," said Tony. "She'll call off the wolves and penalize them for this."

"Roxy and I will go talk to Carlos," Matteo announced. "Hopefully knock some sense into him."

"No, I'll go with Roxy," said Tony. "I'm not risking you making out with Carlos."

"You what?!" exclaimed Hugo. "You've been kissing the enemy this whole time?!"

"We broke up the night that Carisa turned into a werewolf," Matteo explained.

"Thank goodness," Hugo said. "Then, yes, I agree with Tony. You're staying here."

"Why?" Matteo asked.

"Matteo, I hate to say this but you have a bit of a weak spot for him," I told him. "We'll be right back, okay?"

"Fine," he replied. "Antonio, no killing anyone."

"I can't promise that," he replied. "Come on Roxy."

He started to walk out of the room and I followed.

"Something about this doesn't make sense," I said to Tony once he started the car. "I don't think this was done by the wolves."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"There's no sign of a struggle," I told him. "Their hearts are ripped out, that's not something that I would assume is wolf-ly."

"Are you saying it's Hugo?" Tony asked, with disbelief.

"No, I'm saying that I don't think it was the wolves," I told him. "From a basic glance, yes it looks like that but there are details about it that don't make sense."

"I guess we'll see," he replied, accelerating.

"Don't tell me you're going to do a crazy Matteo drive and arrive there within five minutes," I complained.

"You think Matteo's the one that started that?" he asked, accelerating further. "Roxy, I invented that kind of driving."

"Tony, if you crash, I swear to God—" I started.

"Relax, it's not like you'll die," he replied.

"I will if the car explodes!" I exclaimed, holding on to my seat for dear life.

"It won't, don't worry," he replied.

After about another minute of his reckless driving, that was somehow worse than Matteo's, we arrived at the Shadow Wolves' base. Tony got out of the car like his driving was no big deal, I on the other hand stumbled out of the car with my stomach in knots. I almost vomited, thankfully I didn't though.

"What's up with you?" Tony asked, as if it wasn't obvious.

"You're reckless driving," I muttered in reply. "That's what."

Once I managed to pull myself together, I nodded at Tony and we walked in like we owned the place. Today was a good day to be dressed like a badass. The wolves stared at us as we walked by, muttering things to one another, wondering why we were here. Carlos stood waiting for us to approach on his front porch.

"What do you want?" he asked. "Where's your brother?"

"I thought it was time to bring in the plan B," Tony replied.

"What's the plan B?" asked Carlos, oblivious.

"Me, you fool," Tony replied. "Matteo, is too forgiving. I on the other hand, have no remorse."

"Now, tell us why you've killed some of the Strychnos," I said, keeping up the not caring attitude that Tony had.

"What?" he asked.

I looked over at Tony and gave him a triumphant look.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We had nothing to do with the killings, why would you think they were us?" Carlos asked.

"The evidence found on the bodies resembled something that a wolf would or could do," I answered.

"If you're lying, Carlos, I will rip your heart out and feed it to you," Tony threatened.

"You can't just come here, throwing around fake accusations and threats," Carlos miffed at Tony.

"And what are you going to do about it?" retorted Tony, knowing he was the stronger of the two.

"Do you want to find out?" asked Carlos, his irises glowing gold.

"That's real cute little wolfie," Tony teased. "But I can do better."

Tony's eyes filled with a dark red color, like a demon of some sort, veins crawled under his eyes and he bared his fangs for Carlos to see. Carlos backed away from him, finally recognizing that Tony was stronger of the two.

"That's what I thought," Tony said, his vampire aspects fading. "Did you or did you not kill those vampires?"

"My pack had no part in it," he replied.

"Great, now we've got a mystery on our hands," I complained.

"Come on," Tony said. "We need to go investigate further, and tell the sheriff."

"Alright," I said. "Let's go."

We both strutted out of there, again like we owned the place. We got in the car again and Tony sped off, thankfully not as fast.

"We'll go to the sheriff's place first," Tony told me.

"Great, I can tell her what a great driver you are," I told him. "How will I be related to your vampire drama?"

"You can be a witness," Tony decided. "You heard noises when you were out in the woods."

"Why would I be out near the warehouse?" I asked.

"Because she thinks that you're a dumb human, make up something," Tony said.

"I'll just stay in the car," I told him. "It'll be less complicated that way."

"Suit yourself," he told me, pulling up at the police station.

"Good luck," I told him as he got out of the car.

I waited in the car for about five minutes until I saw the sheriff and Tony walk out of the station. Tony got in the car and started it up again.

"What's she going to do?" I asked him.

"She and her team are going to check out the scene which means we need to get Matteo outta there before the sheriff gets there," he told me, handing me his phone. "Call him."

I searched for his name in his list of contacts and called the number.

"Hello?" Matteo answered.

"Matteo, you need to get out of the warehouse, the sheriff is coming to investigate," I told him. "I'll meet you at your place and tell you how the meeting went."

"Okay, see you soon," he told me and hung up.

"So just drop me off at your place and then head over to the warehouse," I told him.

"This is all strange," Tony said.

"You realise that sooner or later, you're going to have to tell the sheriff that you're a vampire, right?" I asked him.

"I know, I know," he replied. "But I can't tell her now, she'll try to kill me."

"Aren't you two best friends or something?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Then she'll be mad, but she won't hurt you," I told him.

"You don't understand, I'm the reason for the hospital blood bag raids and some of the deaths," he told me. "I'm the reason behind many of the attacks, she'll kill me for that."

"Then persuade her," I told him.

He frowned at me, "You mean compel her?"

"I'm not suggesting anything, but you know, whatever works," I replied.

"Don't tempt me," he said. "You know I will if you encourage me."

"Either way, you'll have to tell her," I told him, as he drove into his house. "Just drop me off here, no need to go up the driveway."

"If that's what you want," he told me.

"Well, Matteo's right there so just stop," I said.

He pulled over and Matteo waited for me to get out. I got out and waved at Tony as he sped off in his flashy car.

"Tony's going back to the warehouse?" asked Matteo, walking inside the house.

"Yeah, he and the sheriff are going to settle it out," I replied.

He walked to the living room and sat down silently, not saying a word.

"You're itching to know how the meeting with Carlos went, aren't you?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"He said that the attacks weren't his," I informed him.

"Do you believe him?" Matteo asked.

"Yes," I told him. "The marks on the bodies looked to be by the wolves, but upon closer scrutiny, it couldn't've been the wolves."

"Like the hearts ripped out," Matteo said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It doesn't make sense."

"So then who was it?" Matteo asked.

"Well, we've ruled out the wolves, and it couldn't've been the Strychnos," I told him. "There's only one other vampire that could've done it..."

"Dracula," Matteo finished.

"But it couldn't be," I told him. "He's way too much of a decent guy for that, I mean, I trust him."

"Yeah, me too," Matteo agreed.

Matteo was again awkwardly silent.

"Okay, what is it?" I asked him.

"What's what?" he replied.

"You're so awkwardly silent," I said bluntly. "Is it something to do with Carlos?"

"We talked and he wants me back," he admitted, after a few moments.

"So what did you say?" I asked him.

"That I'll think about it," he replied. "What do you think?"

"As much as I don't like him, he seems to make you happy," I told him.

"Good, because I hooked up with him," he told me and I rolled my eyes.

"Are you a couple yet?" I asked.

"I dunno," he replied, beaming. "I guess we'll see."

Dracula walked into the room.

"Morning all!" he exclaimed. "Roxy, I'd like to speak with you."

"Okay," I replied. "See you later, Matteo."

I followed Dracula down the hall to his room.

"What did you wanna talk about?" I asked him.

"Well, this must be top secret," he said. "You seem like a smart person so you can help me scheme against your friends."

"And why would I do that? " I asked him.

"Because I'm commanding you to," he told me.

"Okay," I agreed.

"That's more like it," he told me.

"Why am I doing whatever you tell me to do?" I asked him.

"Because I'm compelling you," he replied blatantly.

"How are you able to do that?" I asked. "Vampires can't compel other vampires."

"Maybe not normal vampires, my little offspring," he scoffed. "But I was made from a spell, so I can compel vampires."

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"For revenge," he told me. "Your little friends killed my brother, they must pay for this."

"With all due respect, didn't you kill their entire village?" I asked, not seeing his point. "Including their mother."

"That's beside the point, darling," he told me. "They still must pay, nobody messes with me or my family, continues to live."

"There's more of you?" I asked, with disbelief and partial disgust.

"That's not a conversation we should get into," he replied.

"Why not just kill them?" I asked him. "Why get me to help?"

"Because, my dear, revenge is better served strategically," he said. "I was the one who killed the wolves."

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"Like I said, revenge," he said. "I plan to side with the witches, wolves and the police department, leaving your friends with that pathetic Strychnos. It'll cause a war, which will cause your friends to die. I intend for them to die as inhumanely as possible."

"So you killed five vampires just for that purpose?" I asked.

"I'm proud of that handiwork, it looked pretty convincing," he boasted.

"Not convincing enough, you ripped out their hearts; a normal wolf couldn't do that," I told him. "There was also no sign of a struggle, which would indicate that you used your vamp speed on them."

"See, I'm going to have to bring you along to murders if I don't want the blame," he said. "How do you know all of this?"

"I used to want to be a lawyer or, uh, someone to do with crime scene investigations," I told him. "Though, it all went to hell once I became a vampire."

"Now help me devise a plan," he told me.

I nodded.

"You say you want to side with the wolves, the witches and the P.D," I told him. "To do that, you'd have to form an allegiance with the shadow pack, yet Carlos and Matteo are still an item, so Carlos won't form one with you if he knows you're going against Matteo."

Words just flew out of my mouth without my acknowledgement of what I was telling him.

"Then what do you suppose I do?" he asked.

"You can't compel them because they're wolves," I said. "You'll have to prove that you're not against Matteo, that you're looking out for yourself."

"What about witches?" he asked.

"We already have an alliance with the two strongest witches of this region," I told him. "There's another coven but they loathe vampires, however if you appeal to them that you're looking to rid the town of them then you may be able to do so."

"And the sheriff?" he asked.

"Same thing with the wolves," I told him. "You could tell her that Tony is a vampire to secure trust with her."

Why am I telling him everything? I'm screwing over my friends.

"And it would screw over Tony," he said. "That's good, we'll recommence tomorrow. I have to go ruin people's lives."

Why must I tell him everything that comes to mind?

"You will not tell anyone about this," he looked me in the eye.

"I won't tell," I repeated.

"Good," he said. "See you later."

He vamped out of the room.

I need to do something about this, I can't betray my friends like this. But I can't tell anyone, nor am I going to remember for much longer of him being away from me.

Matteo walked into the room.

"Hey, did you want to go get a bite to eat?" he asked.

"Depends which kind of a bite to eat," I told him.

"At The Grill," he said. "We have blood bags for that other type of feeding."

"Why not?" I said. "Let's go."

Matteo walked out of the room and I paused; what was I thinking about? I pushed the thought aside and left to go have lunch with Matteo.


	9. Chapter 9: The Witch

I sat in the room with Dracula; for the fourth time this week. He'd been using me to scheme this entire week and it was getting to be an issue. There were literal holes in my memory when trying to remember all the hours in a day that I'd spent with him. However, I'd formed a plan this time. I smiled as I turned on a recording for voice memos on my phone that would hopefully record our entire conversation, and the sticky notes that lay around the house and in my pocket to remind my uncompelled self to check the recording. My uncompelled-self thought that she was losing her mind; and in all honesty, I think she's probably right. Regardless of the compulsion itself.

"But what if they know my plan?" Dracula questioned out loud. "What if they're conspiring against me?"

"Dracula, I'm sick of this compulsion," I told him. "You're just an insanely paranoid person who wants revenge for something miniscule on the scale of what you've done to others."

"It's not revenge; it's simply justice," he told me.

"Said every psychopathic maniac ever," I told him.

"Improper use of the term psycho," he corrected me.

"Actually, psycho would refer to someone with a mental disorder to harm people," I corrected him. "And given that you murdered most of the Strychnos for fun, you are a psycho."

"Fair enough, fair enough," he replied. "It's all a part of the plan."

"And when are going to enact this plan?" I asked him. "You've been scheming this entire week; yet no move has been made."

"There was a reason for that, darling," he told me. "The sheriff and her team are still baffled by the murders of the Strychnos and can't place it to anything. Today, I shall tell her that you lot are all vampires despite Tony trying to throw the blame off of vampires altogether. This will create suspicion and Sheriff Tracy will try to plan an attack on Tony, in which your gang will save him. Therefore creating tension between the sides and I can side with the sheriff."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," I told him. "You're insane."

"Well, I'm off to destroy your lives," he said and vamped out of the room.

Everything about that recent hour faded from my brain, and I struggled to remember what I just did. I must be going insane. I walked downstairs to find Matteo or anyone really, though Tony was still working on the case of the dead Strychnos. Which to me made no sense as to why it's such a big deal, they are literal threats to the rest of the neighborhood, but then again; if they think there's a supernatural killer on the loose then we should all be worried. But it's a wonder who it could be. I walked out to the kitchen and there sat a bright pink sticky note on the bench saying; ' _Roxy check your voice memos.'_ It was in my own hand writing, yet I have no memory of writing this whatsoever. I pulled out my phone and went onto the voice memos app, where it was still recording. Strange, I have no memory of turning that on. I stopped the recording and played it.

I listened as the recording played;

 _"But what if they know my plan?" Dracula questioned out loud. "What if they're conspiring against me?"_

 _"Dracula, I'm sick of this compulsion," I told him. "You're just an insanely paranoid person who wants revenge for something miniscule on the scale of what you've done to others."_

 _"It's not revenge; it's simply justice," he told me._

 _"Said every psychotic maniac ever," I told him._

 _"Improper use of the term psycho," he corrected me._

 _"Actually, psycho would refer to someone with a mental disorder to harm people," I corrected him. "And given that you murdered most of the Strychnos for fun, you are a psycho."_

 _"Fair enough, fair enough," he replied. "It's all a part of the plan."_

 _"And when are going to enact this plan?" I asked him. "You've been scheming this entire week; yet no move has been made."_

 _"There was a reason for that, darling," he told me. "The sheriff and her team are still baffled by the murders of the Strychnos and can't place it to anything. Today, I shall tell her that you lot are all vampires despite Tony trying to throw the blame off of vampires altogether. This will create suspicion and Sheriff Tracy will try to plan an attack on Tony, in which your gang will save him. Therefore creating tension between the sides and I can side with the sheriff."_

 _"This is exactly what I'm talking about," I told him. "You're insane."_

 _"Well, I'm off to destroy your lives," he said._

The conversation finished and what was left of the recording was just noises of me walking around the house. I ran out to find someone to tell about this and in the process ran right into Matteo, who was on the phone. He gave me a hand up.

"Dracula arrived at the crime scene," I heard Tony say through the phone. "He ratted us out to the sheriff."

"He what?!" Matteo exclaimed in disbelief.

"I know," he replied. "You have to come rescue me."

"Matteo, I have news," I told him.

"Not now Roxy," he said.

"For once this is more important," I told him.

"I doubt it," Tony said through the phone, who probably wasn't aware that I was there before that.

"It's about Dracula, we've all been compelled," I told them. "We're not able to help you until we get our compulsions extracted."

"Dracula wouldn't do that," Matteo replied.

"I have a voice recording," I told them. "I know his plan."

"We don't have time!" Tony exclaimed through the phone. "Tracy's on the brink of killing me!"

"I know, I know," I said. "We'll order the Strychnos to save you, since they've had to abandon the warehouse."

"Then what do we do?" Matteo asked.

"We have to ask Opal if there's a way to get rid of the compulsion," I told him.

"Alright hurry!" Tony said. "They're getting close to finding me, I'm in the woods. They've barricaded off any way to escape."

Matteo hung up the phone and immediately dialed Hugo's number.

"You call Opal while I call Hugo," Matteo told me.

I searched for Opal's number in my contacts, which would have been easier if I hadn't of saved all the numbers to local food delivery services, but oh well. I called her number and moved to the living room to talk to her.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Opal, it's Roxy," I told her.

"Oh what's up?" she asked.

"Hard to explain over the phone, but we've got a situation and it involves Dracula," I informed her. "Can you come over?"

"I'll be there in five," she told me unquestioningly, and hung up.

I walked back over to Matteo.

"Opal's coming over," I told him.

"Hugo's informed and off to rescue Tony," he told me

"Maybe everything will work out?" I said, rather uncertainly.

"What's his plan?" he asked.

"He wants revenge because you killed Ruthven," I told him. "He plans to kill you in the most inhumane way possible."

"Just because I killed his brother?" he asked. "He killed my entire village, including Tony and I."

"That's what I told him," I replied.

"And it's been over a century, I don't understand why he'd enact a plan now," he told me.

The doorbell rang. Matteo opened it and there stood Opal, with her grandmother, Azura.

"I brought help, you said this was a situation," she told me.

"Anything involving Dracula is trouble," Azura commented.

"He's compelled all of us," I told them and played the recording.

"Is there any way to rid ourselves of the compulsion?" Matteo asked.

"Grandma?" Opal asked.

"There is but it'll hurt like hell, child," she told me.

"Am I able to perform the spell?" Opal asked.  
"You don't have enough power," she told her. "We'll do it together."

"Okay," she replied.

"You'll want to sit down for this," Azura told Matteo and I.

She grabbed Opal's hand and started to recite a spell, they closed their eyes

Pain surged through my body, I fell the to the floor and screamed out in pain. Matteo was in the same state as I. My vision started to blur as I looked up to see that Azura and Opal were still chanting. Darkness faded in and out of my vision, and I couldn't keep track of my surroundings. It honestly felt like Azura and Opal were trying to kill us, and I wasn't one hundred percent certain that they weren't. My vision went completely black as my body went limp. Memories flashed in front of me.

 _"It's no trouble," he told me, looking me in the eye again. "You will trust me from here on."_

The first time I met him, that bastard. It all made sense as to why I so blindly trusted him.

 _"What did you wanna talk about?" I asked him._

 _"Well, this must be top secret," he said. "You seem like a smart person so you can help me scheme against your friends."_

 _"And why would I do that? " I asked him._

 _"Because I'm commanding you to," he told me._

 _"Okay," I agreed._

 _"That's more like it," he told me._

 _"Why am I doing whatever you tell me to do?" I asked him._

 _"Because I'm compelling you," he replied blatantly._

 _"How are you able to do that?" I asked. "Vampires can't compel other vampires."_

 _"Maybe not normal vampires, my little offspring," he scoffed. "But I was made from a spell, so I can compel vampires."_

 _"Why are you doing this?" I asked._

 _"For revenge," he told me. "Your little friends killed my brother, they must pay for this."_

The first time he'd compelled me into helping him scheme with Matteo.

 _"Well, we've ruled out the wolves, and it couldn't've been the Strychnos," I told him. "There's only one other vampire that could've done it..."_

 _"Dracula," Matteo finished._

 _"But it couldn't be," I told him. "He's way too much of a decent guy for that, I mean, I trust him."_

 _"Yeah, me too," Matteo agreed._

Times where I completely neglected common logic because he'd told me to. All of it came back.

Slowly, my vision started to fade back into the surroundings of the Fonte mansion. I gripped my head where it hurt, which is pretty much all over. Matteo was already sitting on the couch, he'd clearly been compelled less than I had.

"What just happened?" I groaned. "Was I supposed to black out?"

"Yes," Opal told me.

"What's happened is that you'll get your lost memories back in dreams or visions," Azura explained. "Much like you do when you first turn."

"Wait what?" I asked.

"Whatever compulsion takes away memories or makes you do something will come back in a dream after you turn," Matteo told me.

I thought back to the dream I had of my father, it must have been real. Oh my god, my father's a werewolf?!

"What's wrong, Roxy?" Matteo asked.

"I had a dream right after I turned," I explained. "I thought it was just a dream but now I don't think so."

"Was it important?" Matteo asked.  
"My father's a werewolf," I told them. "He faked his death... to save my Mom and I."

Everyone just stayed silent. Matteo's phone buzzed, breaking the silence.

"Tony?" Matteo said into the phone. "What's wrong?"

"Hugo got compelled by Dracula who's come into the scene," I heard Tony say through the phone. "I need backup, are you done with Opal?"

I pushed the thoughts of my father out of my mind, I needed to focus on what was more important.

"Yeah, we're done here," Matteo told him. "Compulsion extracted, we'll rescue you and extract your compulsion as well."

"Hurry, I don't know how long I can hide in these woods," he told him.

"We'll be there soon don't worry," Matteo told him.

He hung up the phone and turned to Opal and Azura.

"Tony's in trouble, Roxy and I have to go save him," he explained. "Are you okay to extract the compulsion once we come back?"

"We can take you there," Opal offered. "Within seconds."

"Are you sure?" Matteo asked.  
"I think it's clear we have an alliance with you," Azura told them.

"I meant are you okay, like do you have enough power?" Matteo further explained, and grabbed a blood bag sitting nearby.

"We'll be fine," Azura told him. "Everybody connect hands."

We did as she said and made a small circle, connecting hands.

"Where are we going?" Azura asked.

"Hugo's warehouse," Matteo replied.

She nodded and muttered what was probably a spell and we left in a cloud of purple smoke. We appeared in the warehouse in the same cloud of smoke we left the Fonte mansion in. Dracula stood in the middle of the room, next to some of the Strychnos that were holding Tony, he'd probably been vervained. He looked weak. Deputies stood scattered around the room with the sheriff next to Dracula.

"Ah, how nice of you to join us," Dracula said. "You're about to watch your dear Tony get killed."

Opal and Azura connected hands and raised their free hand; all the other vampires in the room started screaming in pain and falling to the floor. With Tony free, Matteo vamped over and brought him over to us.

"Sheriff, you can't kill him," I told her. "Tony didn't kill the Strychnos, it was Dracula."

"Do you have any evidence of this?" she asked me.

"I have a voice recording," I told her. "I'd be happy to play it for you."

"Why you sneaky bastards," Dracula miffed through grunts on the floor. "So much for that compulsion."

"I'm not your little bitch anymore," I told him. "None of us are."

"If you don't stop this, we'll have no option left but a war with you," Opal spoke up.

"We'll do what you planned, we'll side with the witches and the wolves and leave you with...how was it you phrased it?" I taunted. "Ah yes, the pathetic Strychnos."

Hugo fumingly glared at him.

"You wouldn't," he miffed.

"I would," I replied. "We're only as weak and cowardly as our leader, and that is no longer you."

"I'll make you pay," he threatened. "I'll kill each and every last one of you!"

"I'd like to see you try," I replied.

Dracula vamped out of the room before any of us could finish the conversation.

"Thank you," Tony muttered, and drank the blood bag Matteo provided him, despite the glare that the sheriff was giving him.

"Can I listen to that audio recording now?" the sheriff asked me.

I handed her my phone and let her listen. She nodded and handed it back.

"That's enough evidence to convict him," she told me.

I didn't want to question whether a vampire death and a human death had different processes for murder and conviction and whatnot.

"Now what?" asked Tony.

"Well, we've still got to

"I'll talk to Carlos about an alliance with the wolves," Matteo said.

"Of course you would," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Roxy, you coming?" Matteo asked.

The thought of wolves reminded me of my father; he was a wolf. I need to talk to my Mom.

"Look, I'm going to go home," I told them. "I need to talk to my Mom about Dad."

"Why?" asked Tony, unaware of the realization I'd had earlier.

"He's a werewolf, apparently," I told him.

"Holy crap," he told me. "Yeah, you should go."

"See you guys," I said and vamped all the way to my house.

I walked into the house.

"Mom?" I called out.

"I'm home," she replied, she sounded as if she was in the kitchen.

I walked in to find her preparing dinner.

"Mom, I know," I told her.

Her face stiffened.

"Know what, Roxy?" she asked, a slightly worried tone in her voice.

"Everything," I told her. "Dad faked his death? Why would you keep that from me?"

"How do you know?" she asked. "... You couldn't know, unless..."

"Unless I'm a vampire," I finished for her.

"I never wanted you to be a part of this," she told me. "That's why your father went away."

"Are you... a supernatural being?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Do I get to know?" I asked.

"You deserve to know," she said. "I'm a—"

Her neck snapped at the hands of Dracula. I screamed.

"Oh my god! Mom!" I screamed and rushed over to her body.

"She's a witch, by the way," Dracula smirked. "That was for today. If you don't watch it, you're next."

I took my Mom's body and vamped to the Fonte mansion. I frantically banged on the door until someone opened the door. Matteo answered, took one look at the situation and rushed me inside.

"It was Dracula," I said through sobs. "It... it w-was him, h-he did this."

He helped me carry the body through to the living room and rest her on the couch. I was frantically crying over her body and shaking uncontrollably. They both, Tony and Matteo, stood there watching me have a complete meltdown. I stood up, still crying.

"He's gone too far," I told them. "He can't just keep doing this."

Matteo pulled me into a hug and I cried on his shoulder.

"It's okay," he told me.

"No, it's not okay!" I snapped. "I'm sorry, I just can't take much more of this."

I broke from the hug.

"I thought I could shield her from all of this, that I could protect her. Even though it turns out she's a witch," I sobbed. "But it doesn't even matter now because she's dead! She's dead and there's, there's nothing I can do."

I started melting down again, to which Matteo pulled into another hug.

"We should bury her," Tony commented, taking a sip of blood. "She deserves to be buried."

I shook my head and sat down on the end of the couch.

"She never wanted to be buried," I told them, still sobbing. "Thought it was pointless, there was this one time where she told me she wanted her body burned while floating down a lake or something."

Tony handed me a flask.

"I don't think things could be much worse," he told me.

I nodded and took a swig from the flask, cringed from the taste, but still took another.

"So are we going to get her cremated?" Matteo asked. "Or do we have to make a floating raft for her to burn on?"

"I have no idea," I told him.

The doorbell rang, startling me. Tony vamped out of the room to get it.

"What the hell is going on?" Tony asked, disbelief in his tone.

"It's my Gran," I heard Opal sob. "She's dead."

She ran into the living room; and saw my Mom dead. I broke the hug I was in with Matteo and hugged her instead, and we just stood there hysterically crying. I suddenly snapped out of the sad mood I was in; I was angry. I was mad, we needed to kill Dracula. Even if it meant dying myself.


	10. Chapter 10: The Alliance

I watched as my mother's body burned while floating down the river, near the wolf territory. We had made peace with them. I reflected on all the memories I had with her. I'd even written a letter to be burned and left it with her corpse. Along with a bunch of white roses that symbolized purity or some crap I read off of the internet. It had to be perfect, Mom would have wanted it this way, or at least I do. Though, in the end, it didn't even matter. It's said that a witches' spirit lives on in nature, gets reincarnated or something, maybe she'll even have it better. I was sad, yes, but my anger was starting to override it. If I saw Dracula again, I would not hesitate to rip his head off. Even if it means dying in the process. We've all lost too much.

Matteo looked over at me, "We should go now."

I nodded and he put his arm around me to console me as we walked through the forest.

"So the plan is that Matteo makes an alliance with the wolves while you go home," Tony told me.

"Can I crash at your place?" I asked, my voice breaking from crying. "I don't want to go home, too many reminders of her."

"Of course," Tony nodded, actually showing sympathy for once.

"Thanks," I replied.

"What will you do?" Matteo asked Tony.

"Form a plan with Opal, the witches and the sheriff," he replied. "I think it's obvious now that Dracula is a problem that has to go."

Matteo nodded in agreement, as we made our way through the forest. I looked around and bodies were scattered everywhere, hearts ripped out of chests and heads decapitated. Before any of us could react, a hand impaled Matteo in the chest and out flew his heart, his body partially flopping on me due to his arm being around me. I frantically pushed his limp body off of me and it fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Matteo!" I screamed, tears rushing down my face before I could even process what had just happened.

"Oh sorry," Dracula gleamed, holding his bloody heart in his hand. "Did I do that?"

He looked down at the bloody heart in his hand, smiling, as if he found himself humorous. I couldn't take my eyes off the heart. Matteo's life gone in the blink of an eye. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted thrash at him. But I couldn't focus myself enough to do anything but stand there.

"Roxy, run!" Antonio screamed at me, bringing me from my trance, as Dracula started to approach me.

I vamped off to the car and listened in as I waited for Antonio.

"You killed him!" Antonio screamed at Dracula. "As if any of us haven't lost enough!"

"It's revenge," Dracula simply said. "Nothing personal... well, actually, it is."

"You can't just go around killing people!" Antonio screamed. "Just because your psychotic brain thinks that you should!"

"Hmm, you have a point," Dracula said. "But my so called 'psychotic brain' thinks otherwise. Perhaps, you should be next."

It was that moment that I knew Tony would vamp over, so I jumped in the passenger seat, awaiting him to get in and drive off. Just as I suspected, Tony vamped in, shoved the keys in the ignition and recklessly drove off. Not a word was exchanged in the time that it took to reach his house. We got out and walked into the living room, still no words said.

"This has to end," Tony muttered, obviously filled with rage and vengeance. "He has to be killed."

"Tony," I said, turning him to face me.

He looked into my eyes, and all I could see was the hurt that he'd been through. I hugged him, to which he obliged, obviously needing the support.

"I'm sorry for what happened," I told him, tears still running down my face. "I... I—I lost him too."

He didn't say anything. I don't blame him for not wanting to.

"I'll call Opal, if vengeance is what you want." I told him. "You can kill him yourself, if you want to; but either way he has to die."

I let go of him and left the room to call Opal. I waited in silence for the ringing to stop and for her to answer; listening to Tony silently sob in the living room. Finally, the ringing stopped.

"Hey Opal," I said into the phone, my voice trembling a little still.

"Roxy, what's wrong?" she asked, immediately picking up on my emotions. "You sound sad."

"Just come over here," I told her. "We have news, and it's not good."

"I'm on my way," she told me. "I'll be there as soon as possible."

I walked back into the living room, where Tony sat just staring at the floor.

"She'll be here soon," I told him.

He nodded, not even looking over at me.

"What if you turned it all off?" I asked him. "Would it help?"

"I can't do that," he said quietly.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"It's not what she would have wanted," he told me. "I need to stay strong."

I nodded.

"At this point in time, I think she'd get why," I told him.

"It's not what Matteo would want either," he said. "He spent much of his life trying to get me to turn it on again, if I turn it off, it means that I throw all of his work away. I can't do that."

The doorbell rang, perfect timing, I didn't want to press on the issue further. I vamped to the door where Opal rushed in, carrying a bag full of books.

"What's going on?" she asked, out of breath, dropping the bag of books next to a hall table.

"Matteo's dead," I said, tears starting to form in my eyes again.

"Oh my god, no, he can't be dead," she replied.

"Dracula has to die," I said, wiping . "We need your help to kill him."

"He's the oldest vampire of all time," she said. "Meaning that he can't be killed with just an ordinary stake."

"Ask Tony, he and Matteo killed Ruthven," I told her.

"We still have the weapon for that," Tony added to our conversation. "We figured we'd need it if Dracula ever came after us."

"Is it in the house?" I asked.

"Do I seem that stupid?" asked Tony, his sass seemingly back to normal. "When Dracula came to town, before all the compulsion happened, I hid it outside of the house."

"Go get it," said Opal. "I'll search my grandmother's grimoires for a spell to subdue him. With any luck, he'll be dead by the end of today."

Tony vamped off not saying a word. Opal went over to her bag of books, picked them up and headed upstairs to the lounging area. and pulled out all of them.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Not unless you can read spells," Opal said. "Which I highly doubt."

"My Mom was a witch," I offered.

"It doesn't work that way," she replied. "Now stand back."

"Why?"

"I need to find the spell for the Original vampires, it'll reveal they're unbinding," she told me.

I took a few steps back.

"Aperire librum!" Opal yelled, making a rather large gesture with her arms.

The books flew up in the air, and I quickly threw my hands over my head to protect books from raining down on me. All but one remained in mid-air

"Ostendo fero," she said, making a smaller hand gesture.

The pages of the book started flipping and landed on one page. Opal gestured for the book to come down to her, and she looked at the spell.

"This is it," she said. "I'll have to further look over it for a bit to know they're undoing, but at least I have the spell."

Tony walked through the door, stake in hand.

"I got the stake, let's go," he said.

"Lure him here," Opal said. "I'll say a spell to immobilize him and then you can stake him."

"We don't need a spell, we just need an ambush," Tony told us. "This town is small, I'll find him eventually."

"Tony, no!" I half yelled at him. "You're walking into a death trap!"

"So?" he asked. "Everyone else around me has died, maybe I'm better off dead myself."

"You already are dead," Opal pointed out.

"Well then properly dead, Opal!" Tony yelled at her. "What difference does it make?!"

"Tony," I tried to say as calmly as I could. "You are not better off dead."

"I've lived for two hundred and twenty years, it's okay if I die," he replied. "But I will kill him, if he has taught me anything it's to show no mercy."

Opal and I glanced at one another.

"Tony, just lis—" I started.

"Please just let me do this," he said. "I'm not denying that the two of you haven't lost anything, because you have, but please just let me kill him."

"Fine," Opal said, finally. "Do it."

I nodded in agreement. "Just don't die on us."

"I won't," he told us and vamped off again.

Opal and I looked at one another again.

"He's out of control," I told her.

"He's out of his mind," she agreed.

"Though, I'm pretty sure he wants to die," I said.

"I'll continue looking through the spell," she said. "No doubt he'll be back with his mind changed."

"Hopefully that's the case," I replied.

I left Opal to deal with that situation, but I couldn't help but worry about Tony. I left to the kitchen to get a drink, as much as I hated the thought of drinking alcohol, I think I deserved it now. I was on the verge of completely losing it. Everything was a reminder of everyone gone. Surprisingly enough, the thought of my father being alive was the only thought keeping me together. Though, it really should've been the thought to throw me over the edge, the thought that he had abandoned me. Left Mom on her own. I took out a bottle of bourbon, poured it into a cup and took a gulp. I grimaced at the taste and almost immediately spat it out, but I managed to swallow. Despite that, I took another gulp of it. I needed something to distract me.

"Roxy!" Opal called.

"Coming!" I replied, taking a last gulp of my drink and placing it on the counter.

I walked out to where Opal was examining a page in the grimoire.

"We have a problem," she told me. "Like, a huge problem."

"What is it?" I asked her.

"According to this spell," she started. "All vampires are linked by blood."

"Okay, what does that mean?" I asked.

"It means if we kill one of the Original ones, they're entire blood line dies," she explained.

"Oh crap," I said. "So if Tony kills Dracula then we all die."

"Yes, that's exactly what it means," Opal told me.

"We have to find Tony and tell him," I said, frantically. "He might actually kill Dracula."

"Agreed," she replied. "I could do a locator spell, but it might be best to save my energy for something else."

"We can use his phone GPS," I told her, pulling out my phone.

I opened up an app that allowed me to see where everyone was and clicked on his name.

"He's at the warehouse," I told her. "I'm going to go stop him, you formulate a plan."

"Sound good," she said. "Now hurry!"

I rushed outside of the house and vamped all the way to the warehouse. I went to go inside but Hugo popped in front of me.

"I can't let you go in there," he whispered.

"Too bad for you then," I told him.

I reached forward and snapped his neck, before more fuss could be made. I kicked open the door of the warehouse and rushed inside. I saw Dracula who was being held back by at least five Strychnos vampires and Tony holding the stake ready to kill him. I had no time to waste.

"STOP!" I yelled.

I vamped forward and ripped the stake from Tony's hand.

"Roxy, what on earth are you doing?" Tony asked, mad.

"You can't kill him!" I managed to say.

"Why not?" he seethed.

"If you kill him, you kill every single vampire he turned or in his bloodline," I said. "So if he dies, we all die."

The Strychnos stupidly let go of the very angry Dracula.

"I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Dracula screamed.

Tony and I glanced at one another and hastily vamped out of the warehouse and back to his house.

"Quick, get inside," I said out of breath. "He can't get us inside."

We rushed inside and locked the door behind us. I led him upstairs where Opal was reading over her grimoires still.

"How did you not know about the bloodline rule?" I asked Tony.

"I don't know," Tony said.

"You and Matteo killed Ruthven, how could you not know?" I asked.

"I don't pay attention to that sort of thing!" he raised his voice. "It wasn't important at the time!"

We were both on the verge of losing it.

"It means that now we have to formulate another plan," I said. "And fast, before we all get killed ourselves."

"I might have a plan," Opal piped up. "There's a desiccation spell in here, we use it to subdue him and then hide him somewhere."

"Okay, how do we desiccate him?" I asked.

"I have to be in the same room as him, but it's a powerful spell to cast," she said. "If you snap his neck I should have enough time to cast the spell."

"Question is how do we get close enough to snap his neck?" I asked.

"We could cast a linking spell," Tony suggested, being helpful for once. "Link him to me, Roxy can snap my neck and then you desiccate him."

"That's good, but if I'm to do the spell, I need all the magic I can get," she replied. "Meaning that I can't waste it on other spells."

"So we actually need to snap his neck," I groaned. "Well, this is going to go down terribly."

"We could call Carlos and Hugo," Tony suggested. "We're pretty desperate."

"That's only if neither of them have been killed by Dracula," I added.

"Well, Hugo shouldn't have been," Tony said. "Carlos is another story."

"I may have snapped Hugo's neck on my way into the warehouse," I admitted. "So now they're both unknowns."

"Why would you snap his neck?" he glared at me.

"He wouldn't let me into the warehouse and I was in no time for arguing with him," I said.

"Just call them," Opal said. "You'll never know unless you do."

"I don't have their numbers," I said, and looked over at Tony. "You'll have to do it."

He groaned and left the room without saying another word.

"So let's assume they're not dead," I said to Opal. "Then what?"

"We use them or someone as a distraction, and then we get the strongest one to snap Dracula's neck," she said. "That seems like our only option at this point in time."

"Carlos could even bite Dracula," I suggested. "Assuming that it won't kill him."

"It won't, but it will cause him pain," she said. "It'll also give us time for distraction."

"Okay," I replied. "So our plan is now that Carlos bites him, that distracts him, we snap his neck and then you spell him to desiccate?"

"That seems about right," she replied. "The werewolf bite should also weaken him which will make things easier for me."

Tony walked back in.

"Hugo's crew is dead, but he's alive and willing to help," he announced. "Same with Carlos, Hugo should be here now and Carlos soon."

The doorbell rang, I assumed it was Hugo. Tony left the room again to greet him. Within thirty seconds, Hugo was up here and presumably ready to work.

"What's the plan?" Hugo asked.

Before anyone could say anything, the doorbell rang again, probably Carlos. This time I vamped downstairs to answer the door.

"I'm here to help," he said.

I nodded.

"I assume you heard about Matteo," I said to him.

"I saw him as Dracula ripped his heart out," he said. "I was hiding at the time. Dracula took his body somewhere, and I was trying to find it and then Tony called me."

"Yeah, we need your help," I said, giving him a small hug for Matteo. "Come upstairs and we'll explain."

He nodded and followed me upstairs.

As soon as Hugo caught sight of Carlos, his expression changed. "What is _he_ doing here?" he asked, his eyes beady.

"He's here to help and he's a crucial part of our plan," I told Hugo, pushing him back again.

"I refuse to work with _him_ ," Hugo said.

"Oh grow up, Hugo," Tony rolled his eyes. "Do you want Dracula dead or not?"

"Fine, I'll work with him," Hugo agreed. "But only because it means we kill Dracula."

"Stop being so overdramatic," Tony said. "And this is coming from me."

"What do we have to do?" asked Carlos, changing the subject.

"We need you, Carlos, to bite Dracula while Hugo distracts him," I started. "Tony will then snap his neck and Opal will perform the spell."

"How do you suppose I distract him?" Hugo asked.

"Ask him for an alliance, tell him you'll help kill us or something," I told him.

"I'll call him and ask him to meet up at the warehouse," Hugo said.

"Do you have any wolves left?" Tony asked Carlos.

"I do, but they're children and a few parents," he replied. "I'd rather not get them involved."

"We'll all hide nearby the warehouse," I told them.

"Let's go, I guess," Opal said unconfidently.

"I'm not vamping again today," I said.

"Whatever, we'll take my car," Tony said.

"Oh yes, nothing says subtle like a Ferrari," I retorted.

"I'll whoosh us there," Opal said. "It won't use much of my magic, everyone hold hands."

Opal waved her hand in the air and we whooshed away in a cloud of purple smoke.I watched as my mother's body burned while floating down the river, near the wolf territory. We had made peace with them. I reflected on all the memories I had with her. I'd even written a letter to be burned and left it with her corpse. Along with a bunch of white roses that symbolized purity or some crap I read off of the internet. It had to be perfect, Mom would have wanted it this way, or at least I do. Though, in the end, it didn't even matter. It's said that a witches' spirit lives on in nature, gets reincarnated or something, maybe she'll even have it better. I was sad, yes, but my anger was starting to override it. If I saw Dracula again, I would not hesitate to rip his head off. Even if it means dying in the process. We've all lost too much.

Matteo looked over at me, "We should go now."

I nodded and he put his arm around me to console me as we walked through the forest.

"So the plan is that Matteo makes an alliance with the wolves while you go home," Tony told me.

"Can I crash at your place?" I asked, my voice breaking from crying. "I don't want to go home, too many reminders of her."

"Of course," Tony nodded, actually showing sympathy for once.

"Thanks," I replied.

"What will you do?" Matteo asked Tony.

"Form a plan with Opal, the witches and the sheriff," he replied. "I think it's obvious now that Dracula is a problem that has to go."

Matteo nodded in agreement, as we made our way through the forest. I looked around and bodies were scattered everywhere, hearts ripped out of chests and heads decapitated. Before any of us could react, a hand impaled Matteo in the chest and out flew his heart, his body partially flopping on me due to his arm being around me. I frantically pushed his limp body off of me and it fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Matteo!" I screamed, tears rushing down my face before I could even process what had just happened.

"Oh sorry," Dracula gleamed, holding his bloody heart in his hand. "Did I do that?"

He looked down at the bloody heart in his hand, smiling, as if he found himself humorous. I couldn't take my eyes off the heart. Matteo's life gone in the blink of an eye. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted thrash at him. But I couldn't focus myself enough to do anything but stand there.

"Roxy, run!" Antonio screamed at me, bringing me from my trance, as Dracula started to approach me.

I vamped off to the car and listened in as I waited for Antonio.

"You killed him!" Antonio screamed at Dracula. "As if any of us haven't lost enough!"

"It's revenge," Dracula simply said. "Nothing personal... well, actually, it is."

"You can't just go around killing people!" Antonio screamed. "Just because your psychotic brain thinks that you should!"

"Hmm, you have a point," Dracula said. "But my so called 'psychotic brain' thinks otherwise. Perhaps, you should be next."

It was that moment that I knew Tony would vamp over, so I jumped in the passenger seat, awaiting him to get in and drive off. Just as I suspected, Tony vamped in, shoved the keys in the ignition and recklessly drove off. Not a word was exchanged in the time that it took to reach his house. We got out and walked into the living room, still no words said.

"This has to end," Tony muttered, obviously filled with rage and vengeance. "He has to be killed."

"Tony," I said, turning him to face me.

He looked into my eyes, and all I could see was the hurt that he'd been through. I hugged him, to which he obliged, obviously needing the support.

"I'm sorry for what happened," I told him, tears still running down my face. "I... I—I lost him too."

He didn't say anything. I don't blame him for not wanting to.

"I'll call Opal, if vengeance is what you want." I told him. "You can kill him yourself, if you want to; but either way he has to die."

I let go of him and left the room to call Opal. I waited in silence for the ringing to stop and for her to answer; listening to Tony silently sob in the living room. Finally, the ringing stopped.

"Hey Opal," I said into the phone, my voice trembling a little still.

"Roxy, what's wrong?" she asked, immediately picking up on my emotions. "You sound sad."

"Just come over here," I told her. "We have news, and it's not good."

"I'm on my way," she told me. "I'll be there as soon as possible."

I walked back into the living room, where Tony sat just staring at the floor.

"She'll be here soon," I told him.

He nodded, not even looking over at me.

"What if you turned it all off?" I asked him. "Would it help?"

"I can't do that," he said quietly.

"Why not?" I asked him.

"It's not what she would have wanted," he told me. "I need to stay strong."

I nodded.

"At this point in time, I think she'd get why," I told him.

"It's not what Matteo would want either," he said. "He spent much of his life trying to get me to turn it on again, if I turn it off, it means that I throw all of his work away. I can't do that."

The doorbell rang, perfect timing, I didn't want to press on the issue further. I vamped to the door where Opal rushed in, carrying a bag full of books.

"What's going on?" she asked, out of breath, dropping the bag of books next to a hall table.

"Matteo's dead," I said, tears starting to form in my eyes again.

"Oh my god, no, he can't be dead," she replied.

"Dracula has to die," I said, wiping . "We need your help to kill him."

"He's the oldest vampire of all time," she said. "Meaning that he can't be killed with just an ordinary stake."

"Ask Tony, he and Matteo killed Ruthven," I told her.

"We still have the weapon for that," Tony added to our conversation. "We figured we'd need it if Dracula ever came after us."

"Is it in the house?" I asked.

"Do I seem that stupid?" asked Tony, his sass seemingly back to normal. "When Dracula came to town, before all the compulsion happened, I hid it outside of the house."

"Go get it," said Opal. "I'll search my grandmother's grimoires for a spell to subdue him. With any luck, he'll be dead by the end of today."

Tony vamped off not saying a word. Opal went over to her bag of books, picked them up and headed upstairs to the lounging area. and pulled out all of them.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Not unless you can read spells," Opal said. "Which I highly doubt."

"My Mom was a witch," I offered.

"It doesn't work that way," she replied. "Now stand back."

"Why?"

"I need to find the spell for the Original vampires, it'll reveal they're unbinding," she told me.

I took a few steps back.

"Aperire librum!" Opal yelled, making a rather large gesture with her arms.

The books flew up in the air, and I quickly threw my hands over my head to protect books from raining down on me. All but one remained in mid-air

"Ostendo fero," she said, making a smaller hand gesture.

The pages of the book started flipping and landed on one page. Opal gestured for the book to come down to her, and she looked at the spell.

"This is it," she said. "I'll have to further look over it for a bit to know they're undoing, but at least I have the spell."

Tony walked through the door, stake in hand.

"I got the stake, let's go," he said.

"Lure him here," Opal said. "I'll say a spell to immobilize him and then you can stake him."

"We don't need a spell, we just need an ambush," Tony told us. "This town is small, I'll find him eventually."

"Tony, no!" I half yelled at him. "You're walking into a death trap!"

"So?" he asked. "Everyone else around me has died, maybe I'm better off dead myself."

"You already are dead," Opal pointed out.

"Well then properly dead, Opal!" Tony yelled at her. "What difference does it make?!"

"Tony," I tried to say as calmly as I could. "You are not better off dead."

"I've lived for two hundred and twenty years, it's okay if I die," he replied. "But I will kill him, if he has taught me anything it's to show no mercy."

Opal and I glanced at one another.

"Tony, just lis—" I started.

"Please just let me do this," he said. "I'm not denying that the two of you haven't lost anything, because you have, but please just let me kill him."

"Fine," Opal said, finally. "Do it."

I nodded in agreement. "Just don't die on us."

"I won't," he told us and vamped off again.

Opal and I looked at one another again.

"He's out of control," I told her.

"He's out of his mind," she agreed.

"Though, I'm pretty sure he wants to die," I said.

"I'll continue looking through the spell," she said. "No doubt he'll be back with his mind changed."

"Hopefully that's the case," I replied.

I left Opal to deal with that situation, but I couldn't help but worry about Tony. I left to the kitchen to get a drink, as much as I hated the thought of drinking alcohol, I think I deserved it now. I was on the verge of completely losing it. Everything was a reminder of everyone gone. Surprisingly enough, the thought of my father being alive was the only thought keeping me together. Though, it really should've been the thought to throw me over the edge, the thought that he had abandoned me. Left Mom on her own. I took out a bottle of bourbon, poured it into a cup and took a gulp. I grimaced at the taste and almost immediately spat it out, but I managed to swallow. Despite that, I took another gulp of it. I needed something to distract me.

"Roxy!" Opal called.

"Coming!" I replied, taking a last gulp of my drink and placing it on the counter.

I walked out to where Opal was examining a page in the grimoire.

"We have a problem," she told me. "Like, a huge problem."

"What is it?" I asked her.

"According to this spell," she started. "All vampires are linked by blood."

"Okay, what does that mean?" I asked.

"It means if we kill one of the Original ones, they're entire blood line dies," she explained.

"Oh crap," I said. "So if Tony kills Dracula then we all die."

"Yes, that's exactly what it means," Opal told me.

"We have to find Tony and tell him," I said, frantically. "He might actually kill Dracula."

"Agreed," she replied. "I could do a locator spell, but it might be best to save my energy for something else."

"We can use his phone GPS," I told her, pulling out my phone.

I opened up an app that allowed me to see where everyone was and clicked on his name.

"He's at the warehouse," I told her. "I'm going to go stop him, you formulate a plan."

"Sound good," she said. "Now hurry!"

I rushed outside of the house and vamped all the way to the warehouse. I went to go inside but Hugo popped in front of me.

"I can't let you go in there," he whispered.

"Too bad for you then," I told him.

I reached forward and snapped his neck, before more fuss could be made. I kicked open the door of the warehouse and rushed inside. I saw Dracula who was being held back by at least five Strychnos vampires and Tony holding the stake ready to kill him. I had no time to waste.

"STOP!" I yelled.

I vamped forward and ripped the stake from Tony's hand.

"Roxy, what on earth are you doing?" Tony asked, mad.

"You can't kill him!" I managed to say.

"Why not?" he seethed.

"If you kill him, you kill every single vampire he turned or in his bloodline," I said. "So if he dies, we all die."

The Strychnos stupidly let go of the very angry Dracula.

"I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Dracula screamed.

Tony and I glanced at one another and hastily vamped out of the warehouse and back to his house.

"Quick, get inside," I said out of breath. "He can't get us inside."

We rushed inside and locked the door behind us. I led him upstairs where Opal was reading over her grimoires still.

"How did you not know about the bloodline rule?" I asked Tony.

"I don't know," Tony said.

"You and Matteo killed Ruthven, how could you not know?" I asked.

"I don't pay attention to that sort of thing!" he raised his voice. "It wasn't important at the time!"

We were both on the verge of losing it.

"It means that now we have to formulate another plan," I said. "And fast, before we all get killed ourselves."

"I might have a plan," Opal piped up. "There's a desiccation spell in here, we use it to subdue him and then hide him somewhere."

"Okay, how do we desiccate him?" I asked.

"I have to be in the same room as him, but it's a powerful spell to cast," she said. "If you snap his neck I should have enough time to cast the spell."

"Question is how do we get close enough to snap his neck?" I asked.

"We could cast a linking spell," Tony suggested, being helpful for once. "Link him to me, Roxy can snap my neck and then you desiccate him."

"That's good, but if I'm to do the spell, I need all the magic I can get," she replied. "Meaning that I can't waste it on other spells."

"So we actually need to snap his neck," I groaned. "Well, this is going to go down terribly."

"We could call Carlos and Hugo," Tony suggested. "We're pretty desperate."

"That's only if neither of them have been killed by Dracula," I added.

"Well, Hugo shouldn't have been," Tony said. "Carlos is another story."

"I may have snapped Hugo's neck on my way into the warehouse," I admitted. "So now they're both unknowns."

"Why would you snap his neck?" he glared at me.

"He wouldn't let me into the warehouse and I was in no time for arguing with him," I said.

"Just call them," Opal said. "You'll never know unless you do."

"I don't have their numbers," I said, and looked over at Tony. "You'll have to do it."

He groaned and left the room without saying another word.

"So let's assume they're not dead," I said to Opal. "Then what?"

"We use them or someone as a distraction, and then we get the strongest one to snap Dracula's neck," she said. "That seems like our only option at this point in time."

"Carlos could even bite Dracula," I suggested. "Assuming that it won't kill him."

"It won't, but it will cause him pain," she said. "It'll also give us time for distraction."

"Okay," I replied. "So our plan is now that Carlos bites him, that distracts him, we snap his neck and then you spell him to desiccate?"

"That seems about right," she replied. "The werewolf bite should also weaken him which will make things easier for me."

Tony walked back in.

"Hugo's crew is dead, but he's alive and willing to help," he announced. "Same with Carlos, Hugo should be here now and Carlos soon."

The doorbell rang, I assumed it was Hugo. Tony left the room again to greet him. Within thirty seconds, Hugo was up here and presumably ready to work.

"What's the plan?" Hugo asked.

Before anyone could say anything, the doorbell rang again, probably Carlos. This time I vamped downstairs to answer the door.

"I'm here to help," he said.

I nodded.

"I assume you heard about Matteo," I said to him.

"I saw him as Dracula ripped his heart out," he said. "I was hiding at the time. Dracula took his body somewhere, and I was trying to find it and then Tony called me."

"Yeah, we need your help," I said, giving him a small hug for Matteo. "Come upstairs and we'll explain."

He nodded and followed me upstairs.

As soon as Hugo caught sight of Carlos, his expression changed. "What is _he_ doing here?" he asked, his eyes beady.

"He's here to help and he's a crucial part of our plan," I told Hugo, pushing him back again.

"I refuse to work with _him_ ," Hugo said.

"Oh grow up, Hugo," Tony rolled his eyes. "Do you want Dracula dead or not?"

"Fine, I'll work with him," Hugo agreed. "But only because it means we kill Dracula."

"Stop being so overdramatic," Tony said. "And this is coming from me."

"What do we have to do?" asked Carlos, changing the subject.

"We need you, Carlos, to bite Dracula while Hugo distracts him," I started. "Tony will then snap his neck and Opal will perform the spell."

"How do you suppose I distract him?" Hugo asked.

"Ask him for an alliance, tell him you'll help kill us or something," I told him.

"I'll call him and ask him to meet up at the warehouse," Hugo said.

"Do you have any wolves left?" Tony asked Carlos.

"I do, but they're children and a few parents," he replied. "I'd rather not get them involved."

"We'll all hide nearby the warehouse," I told them.

"Let's go, I guess," Opal said unconfidently.

"I'm not vamping again today," I said.

"Whatever, we'll take my car," Tony said.

"Oh yes, nothing says subtle like a Ferrari," I retorted.

"I'll whoosh us there," Opal said. "It won't use much of my magic, everyone hold hands."

Opal waved her hand in the air and we whooshed away in a cloud of purple smoke.


	11. Chapter 11: The Takedown

We landed in the warehouse. Dead vampire bodies were scattered everywhere, their hearts ripped out: a Dracula trademark.

"I'll go call him," Hugo said leaving the room.

"So we're just going to leave the bodies here?" I asked, a little disgusted.

"We don't have time to move them," Opal said. "And as gross as it is, it'll add to the atmosphere of Hugo asking for an alliance."

"I've seen better massacres," Tony scoffed, rolling his eyes. "But I suppose this will do."

I did not want to ask Tony where and how he'd seen better massacres.

"Okay, everyone just find a hiding place," Opal said, ignoring his comment. "Then come back here and we'll wait for news from Hugo."

I searched around the area for an appropriate enough hiding spot. I found a closet and I stepped inside, tripping over something in the process. My thought process was something like; A) This is a giant closet, have I found Narnia? B) What on Earth did I manage to trip over? Upon a closer look, I had managed to trip over a bag of guns and what appeared to be grenades. Wow, aren't I talented? I examined one of the guns to find out that it stored wooden bullets. Why would Hugo want to keep wooden bullets? I thought back to gun training that my Dad had given me right before he left, if needed, I would be able to use these. I put a gun and a vervain grenade in the hidden pocket of my jacket, just in case. I stepped out of the cupboard, this would be my hiding place. I walked back out to the main area, where everyone else seemed to be waiting, I must've taken longer than I thought. Just as I joined the group, Hugo walked back in the room.

"I called him, he's coming," he announced.

"Right, everyone assume their hiding positions and wait until you hear Dracula," Opal said. "More specifically, Carlos, wait until about two minutes into their conversation to attack Dracula."

I headed back over to the closet, in which Tony was headed in the same direction.

"Do you know how to shoot a gun?" I whispered to him.

"Of course, why?" he asked.

"Take this just in case," I said, subtly handing him my hand gun and the vervain grenade stashed in my hidden jacket pocket. "There are plenty more in the closet I'm hiding in."

He gave me a quizzical look.

"Just in case, you never know," I told him.

"Fair enough," he replied, rolling his eyes, and changed direction to hide.

I walked off into my own closet, picked up a gun that I made sure was loaded and waited. I used my vampire hearing to focus into what may have been going on outside. Soon enough, I heard footsteps enter the room. I clutched the gun in my pocket.

"Hugo! I'm here, you better be ready to negotiate!" Dracula called out.

I heard the sound of Hugo vamping out to meet him.

"I'm here," Hugo said, confidently. "And I'm ready."

"So you want an alliance?" Dracula asked.

"Yes," Hugo said. "I give you what you said you wanted in exchange for my protection from you."

"Ah yes, like we negotiated on the phone," Dracula replied.

"What was it you asked for again?" Hugo asked.

"Right yes," Dracula started. "Two twit-headed vampires, one idiotic witch and a lone wolf, does that sound about right?"

Hugo had already negotiated with Dracula against us.

"Yes, that sounds correct," Hugo replied.

I heard an explosion sound right as Hugo finished talking. I peeked out of the closet to see that Tony has thrown the vervain grenade at Hugo, he vamped out and completely whacked off his head, his body fell to the floor. I frantically took out my gun and shot at Dracula's heart and head. He flopped to the floor. I climbed out of the closet, to see Tony standing over an unconscious Dracula and a dead Hugo. Opal and Carlos both joined us.

"I did not see that coming," Carlos said, breaking the silence.

"If Carlos bites him, will it still weaken him?" I asked Opal.

"Yes, if you wouldn't mind, Carlos," Opal said.

Carlos stepped back for a moment and closed his eyes to focus. When he opened them his eyes glowed a golden color and his facial structure had completely changed, with his sideburns sticking out in tufts. He let out a roar, bearing his massive fangs and picked up Dracula with one hand and bit his neck. After doing so, he ran off, probably so he could turn back. Tony dragged Dracula's body away from Hugo's dead one. He stood back to watch Opal perform her magic on him.

"Incetinirea ritmului cardiac al lui!" Opal chanted. "Priveze-l de sânge! În adormire el va merge! Deshidrata ampire!"

She repeated the spell a bunch of times, and Dracula's body visibly started desiccating. His skin turned gray, with his veins poking through his skin, and his lips turned pale.

"It's done," Opal finally said, with blood dripping from her nose. "He's desiccated."

"I have a spare coffin," Tony added.

"You just have that lying around?" I asked.

"In case of my own death," he said. "I'm not going to be around to design my own coffin."

"Whatever," I said. "So Opal will whoosh us back and then what?"

"I'll call the sheriff, she'll know what to do," Tony said.

I picked up Dracula's body and slung him over my shoulder. We all knew the drill, so we all connected hands and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. We landed back in the Fonte mansion living room.

"The coffin's in the basement," he told me. "I'll go call the sheriff, you go get it."

"I'm going to need people to help me," I said, looking over at Carlos and Opal.

Carlos stepped forward. "Sure, I'll help."

"I won't be as useful," said Opal, who was more on the scrawny side. "But, I'll help anyway."

Tony left the room to call the sheriff, whereas Opal, Carlos and I left to find a coffin that Tony had lying around. How did my life get so far from normal? To be perfectly honest, I had no idea where the basement even was, but there was a stairway leading downstairs that I've noticed when entering that weird metallic-smelling room, which would be my best bet. I led them into that room and down the stairs. There, a door stood open with a coffin inside. Thank god, I don't look like an idiot that has no idea where to go. Carlos and Opal took the other side of the coffin, knowing that I was the strongest there because I was a vampire. How we were even got it up the stairs, I'll never know, but we managed. We lugged it into the living and placed it down, Carlos and Opal out of breath, and for once I was not.

Tony walked in the room. "I called the Sheriff and she's coming with a funeral car that fits coffins inside," he said. "She also knows a place where we can leave him to rot."

"Where?" Opal asked.

"The original Echo Falls, the cave," Tony told us.

I nodded. Tony picked up Dracula's body and put it into the coffin.

"Does it not feel weird that you're putting your enemy into your own coffin?" I asked Tony.

"I'm trying not to think about that," he admitted. "I'll just design a new coffin."

The thought that he actually had to design a new coffin was a little alarming, but he was Tony; and Tony was a rather unpredictable person. The noise of a car pulling up to the house entered my ears, and I listened in to the footsteps approaching the house. I looked out the window and saw that there was indeed a funeral car parked outside, along with two cop cars. Which honestly, this town is so strange that having a funeral car on demand didn't seem weird. The sheriff walked to the door, which Tony went to answer it.

"You had better not be joking," I listened into their conversation, she was not even bothering to be nice.

"Come see for yourself," Tony told her.

They walked down the hallway, and appeared in the living room. I stopped looking at the window, and walked over to help if it were needed.

"So it is true," Sheriff Tracy muttered. "You really did put an end to him."

"Of course," Tony replied, cockily.

"That still doesn't mean I trust you," she told him, getting straight to the point.

"But at least you know that I won't lie to you from now on," Tony told her. "And that's something. I'm not giving up on our friendship."

She ignored his comment and moved over to the examine the body.

"You're sure about this?" she asked.

"Even if it doesn't last for more than a week, he'll still be spelled shut in a cave," Opal reassured her. "But regardless, he should be desiccated and won't wake unless you feed him blood."

"Are we doing this or nah?" I asked.

The sheriff nodded and Tony grabbed one side of the coffin, then gestured for me to help. So we lugged the coffin into the funeral car and drove off to some mysterious cave where we'd leave Dracula until the end of time. We pulled up near Carlos' wolf territory and lugged out the coffin on its' stand.

"The cave is on high ground," he said. "How are we to all get there?"

Everyone turned to look at Opal, she sighed.

"I'm not taking all of you," she said. "I don't have much power left to get us all there and back."

"So who'll it be?" Tony asked.

"You, Roxy, and the Sheriff," she said.

We stepped into a circle and connected hands, me leaving a hand on the coffin so that it would travel with us. At least that's how it seemed it would work. We poofed in that same purple cloud as always and landed on the ledge of a cliff, behind a waterfall. In front of us lay the cave; the original Echo Falls. I couldn't help but think it was a little poetic. We got to work without even communicating, though the sound of the waterfall would make it difficult to do so. I pulled out my phone and used the flashlight to see in the cave, I passed it to Opal who held it out in front. Tony and I picked up the coffin, while the Sheriff grabbed the coffin stand.

"How far inside the cave should we put the coffin?" I tried to yell over the noise of the waterfall.

"Like, twenty meters?" Opal suggested.

"Sounds good, just keep moving!" Tony said, obviously eager to get this over with.

"Just place it a few meters up here and it should be good," the Sheriff disagreed. "It's not like people will be able to come in and out of here at free will."

The Sheriff placed the stand down in the place she suggested. We carefully placed the coffin on its' stand in the cave. We all rushed outside and nodded to Opal who raised her hands and started muttering a spell.

"Ad speluncam signa," she muttered. "Ad speluncam signa, ad speluncam signa."

The rest of us looked at one another, unsure of what to do or react to this.

She dropped her arms, and looked over at us. "It's done," she simply said.

"It's over," said Tony, breathing a sigh of relief. "It's all officially over."

He was dead. It was the end of all our sorrows. We could finally sleep at night without a worry, and I couldn't help but feel the least bit happy by that.


End file.
